Online Safety: Educate not Legislate

Previously published in Psychology Today “Positively Media.”

Facebook’s recent privacy control changes have triggered a big response of concern, indignation, and pages of analysis. One thing you have to love about social media, when people are ticked off, you find out pretty fast. Facebook is doing some rhetorical back-pedaling but when people are angry, they demand solutions—often in haste and not often rationally. This has added fuel to the political fire to regulate social networking sites like Facebook. It’s time to take a deep breath and realize that we need a longer view to achieve a solution that is both effective and sustainable. That solution is education, not legislation. We need to redefine media literacy to include understanding how media technologies work and how they are used, not focus on content. We need to elevate media literacy to media citizenship.

Facebook violated a social contract with its users. People are rightfully frustrated when they sign up for something and the rules change. But for Facebook users, this is more than that. The changes to privacy controls violate cultural expectations and cross a psychological boundary, not just the fine print. The sense of betrayal is heightened because of the personal investment, not to mention exposure, people have in an online identity, experience, friends, and community. There is a danger, though, that these emotions will cloud people’s vision about the longer-term and the more fundamental principles at stake. Short-term fixes won’t address longer-term issues.

Whatever the core issues are—and not everyone agrees—the problems are not unique to Facebook. We are all grappling with the implications of a digitally connected world and what this means for a myriad of issues. The solution, however, is not in lawsuits or regulation. Both are a waste of resources and neither will achieve a positive objective: making people safe and effective navigators of the continually evolving digital landscape. The solution is in education.

It’s time we admitted that we are a technology-rich society and redefined media literacy to include understanding how media technologies work, not just what’s in them. We need to elevate media literacy to media citizenship.

As a society fond of taking action, education may not seem like a proactive, eye-for-an-eye response. But it is ultimately more powerful, because it can create a cultural shift toward technological competence and responsibility. Media technologies impact every part of our lives. This is not, in and of itself, a bad or good thing. It is a fact of life. The travesty is to expect people to navigate a new terrain without training and guidance. Media literacy needs to be just that and it needs to be included as a core item in our educational line-up not an after-school after-thought. It may not be easy to measure media literacy like reading and math, but media literacy will be the backbone of how traditional literacy skills are applied in the years ahead.

Social media technologies are creating a participatory culture and that’s a good thing. We want people to have a voice, believe their actions matter, have access to information and education, and be active participants in their lives, their communities, and their country. But most of this will involve technology. If the politicians can’t pass up a photo op and feel they must get involved, then getting on the education bandwagon and promoting media citizenship through media literacy is a better place to do it.

I absolutely agree with concerns over privacy online. This is a whole new world and it’s not all Disney. Digital media and a fully networked society have fundamentally changed the game. But if we showed up someplace to play baseball and the game was basketball, we wouldn’t try to change the rules of basketball to match those of baseball. We’d learn the new rules, get a different ball and get in the game. As a society, we need to make sure everyone learns the new rules so they can effectively (and safely) get in the game.

The privacy issues encircling Facebook are, like most important things, complex. As technologies are changing, so is our sense of privacy. The benefits of social networking sites are not without trade-offs, and we are grappling with where those boundaries lie for ourselves and for others, who might not read the fine print or be able to understand the ramifications. This is not only children and teens. Many people lack a fundamental understanding of how the Internet and social media work; much less an understanding of privacy features and policies in a single networking site.

While the issues of privacy and disclosure currently on the block are not unique to Facebook, the sheer dominance (currently) of the site has people are rightfully concerned and in true social media style, they are letting their voices be heard. Facebook should pay close attention to this. People don’t go on Facebook to see Facebook, they go on Facebook to connect with others. If people are unhappy or distrustful, customer loyalty will be nonexistent when other effective tools come along.

Privacy advocates have filed complaints with the FCC this week. Lawmakers can smell blood and are largely unwilling to address the broader philosophical questions, some of which Psychology Today Blogger Samantha Smithstein raised in her post about online privacy and responsibility. But wherever you fall on the regulate/don’t regulate spectrum, the unassailable problem with it regulation that even if you believed that government employees actually understood the technology, regulation is always done using a rearview mirror. We need to accept that the issues with Facebook are some of the many that we will face as technologies change, most of which we can’t even anticipate. The government has better ways to spend it’s time and our money than regulating social media sites into a negotiated consensus compliance in retrospect instead of providing people with the tools they need to look forward.

It makes much more sense to EDUCATE people—especially kids—because we want them to be able to evaluate not just Facebook but the next new thing, and the next. Media literacy needs to be defined and taught in a way that equips kids and adults to navigate a digital world that is networked, permanent, searchable, and public. Not only is this important for their psychological and physical safety, it is critical for their future success. There will be few careers in the future that do not involve understanding how to use technology—but using the technology won’t be the job, it will be how other jobs are done.

The problem we face isn’t just about privacy and Facebook. It is a by-product of advances in communications technology. Before you bash technology with abandon, remember that it is responsible for much of our economic wealth. So if we believe some people can’t engage with technology safely by themselves, let’s put our efforts into teaching them how. Let’s embrace the responsibility–which is, after all, the whole point in having the freedom to do so—and put more energy and resources into equipping not only our kids, but all our citizens—to have the knowledge and critical thinking skills that will allow them to be responsible, ask the right questions, and understand and appreciate how to use technology well.