I am aware that Little Brother is a work of fiction; however, I believe it is very relevant to the society in which we live. Our generation is commonly referred to as the millennial generation; we are different than the generations before us and immerse ourselves in technology. I read a report about the millennial generation (http://pewsocialtrends.org/2010/02/24/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change/) and I couldn’t help but to notice some of the similarities between us and Marcus. According to the report we embrace multiple modes of self-expression but we also want privacy in regards to our media outlets. Marcus is the same in that he loves expressing himself through technology but wants privacy.
Unfortunately, neither of us can have total privacy when it comes to technology. Today, employers can check up on us by viewing our Facebook or Myspace. People can also hack into our computers and access our personal information. I feel that Marcus really sums up how one feels about privacy when it comes to technology in the following passages from Little Brother. Marcus has just given the password to his cell to the DHS and these passages describe how he feels.
The first passage is on page 56; “The truth is I had everything to hide, and nothing.”
The second passage comes from page 57; “It’s not about doing something shameful. It’s about doing something private. It’s about your life belonging to you.”
These quotes resonate with me because I feel the same way when it comes to my tech gadgets and Facebook.
I would definitely use this text in my classroom because of how prominent multi modalities are in our culture. I would like to do an activity with my class such as the poster board exercise we did the other day in class. I would also like my class to make a wiki based on the over-arching themes they chose for the book.
I like that you used the quote where Marcus says, "It's not about doing something shameful. It's about doing something private." I think a lot of times, our generation expects to "have our cake and eat it too" in a sense; we want to be able to use technology, especially media and internet outlets, to our advantage at all times, but we want to be protected from any backlash we face because of how we use these tools. It is important to teach students not only how to use technology, but how to use it responsibly, because, ultimately, it is each person's individual responsibility to protect themselves. I think one of the main things to be learned from the book is that even seemingly innocent activities may have dangerous implications, so it is important to look at how you use technology from multiple perspectives, and not just your own.
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