09 November 2011

Off the beaten track: Digital communication on dignified desktop

I have been using yahoo mail for many years and the social networking site facebook for a few years. While it is beyond any shadow of doubt that such sites are very useful, they cause problems, at times.

Like most people of my age, I was brought up by strict parents who always expected a high level of discipline from their children. This has had a profound influence on my mindset. Naturally, I have carried forward my sense of discipline in my work as well, particularly as a teacher and school principal. I think that there is nothing wrong in children being modern as long as they are within limits of decency. I am glad that children and parents with whom I worked in different countries, liked my line of thinking. I think that a sense of discipline is a basic requirement for human development.

This evening, when I liked to check my yahoo mail, its homepage displayed an obscene pic with caption. I don't know as to how others would perceive it. I found it very uncomfortable. Immediately on seeing the pic, my first reaction was to close the webpage. 

I had a similar experience when logging in to my facebook account, a few weeks back. I got my facebook account deleted. 

I wish that sites such as yahoo mail and facebook, which are of course very userfriendly,  transfer news items and commercials containing obscene pictures to some other page from their home pages so  that they can be user comfortable too.

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About Me

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Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
I am a retired K-12 Education Management Professional. I have worked at different levels in K-12 school systems, textbook publishing, elearning and Education NGOs. I have held memberships in The Association for Science Education (UK), American Association of Physics Teachers and The Malaysian Institute of Physics. I hold a 1st class B Sc Degree in Physics followed by B Ed [English and Physical Science] and M A [Childcare and Education] degrees. My published works include 59 articles in teacher development magazines in India and the US and a book entitled `Creative Classrooms and Child Friendly Schools' (listed in Amazon). This book is almost an anecdotal account of my professional experience in six countries (including Cambodia where I worked as Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Education, Youth And Sports). I served as mentor in the Certificate of Teaching Mastery Program offered by Teachers Without Borders.