Hi everybody!
I think I was one of the very few people who never entered in YouTube. I, obviously, had heard about it thanks to the media, but I had never searched a video on it before last Wednesday. I must confess that I still have some bias: I think that most of the videos people upload on it are useless or even stupid and offensive. Probably, this is due to the fact that the I heard speaking of YouTube only in relation to bullish acts or to dramatical events.
Nevertheless, I think that these examples are consequences of a wrong use of this tool, and that YouTube has lots of positive aspects: the fact that anyone can share their videos is great, and makes understand how the world is becoming more and more united; then anyone can also choose to "censure" the videos they consider too stupid, offensive or obscene. In effect the "YouTube people" would have a great power in selecting what is worth to be watched; the problem is that often they aren't conscious of this or they simply accept everything.
Although my relationship with this new tool is not completely positive, I think that it can become another help to my English: watching videos in English is undoubtedly useful to improve my comprehension and listening skills, but they are a window from which I can "peek in" English and American culture as well. This last aspect is for me the more interesting and even worthy to be "explored". I hope that, using YouTube more frequently, I can change my idea and pass my prejudices in order to find a new "technological friend"!
I think I was one of the very few people who never entered in YouTube. I, obviously, had heard about it thanks to the media, but I had never searched a video on it before last Wednesday. I must confess that I still have some bias: I think that most of the videos people upload on it are useless or even stupid and offensive. Probably, this is due to the fact that the I heard speaking of YouTube only in relation to bullish acts or to dramatical events.
Nevertheless, I think that these examples are consequences of a wrong use of this tool, and that YouTube has lots of positive aspects: the fact that anyone can share their videos is great, and makes understand how the world is becoming more and more united; then anyone can also choose to "censure" the videos they consider too stupid, offensive or obscene. In effect the "YouTube people" would have a great power in selecting what is worth to be watched; the problem is that often they aren't conscious of this or they simply accept everything.
Although my relationship with this new tool is not completely positive, I think that it can become another help to my English: watching videos in English is undoubtedly useful to improve my comprehension and listening skills, but they are a window from which I can "peek in" English and American culture as well. This last aspect is for me the more interesting and even worthy to be "explored". I hope that, using YouTube more frequently, I can change my idea and pass my prejudices in order to find a new "technological friend"!
4 commenti:
Hi Sara!
Don't worry, I'm an absolute beginner as for YouTube, just like you! Maybe we belong to the last generation of people who think that the greatest invention ever is...the pen!!!:-)
I read our group mates' posts and we all pointed out the same thing: YouTube can be a very useful resource to improve our language skills, but because everybody can upload whatever he/she wants we have to keep our eyes open not to run into offensive and vulgar videos (like you, I immediately thought about the latest news involving guys who recorded their boastings by means of their cell-phone and uploaded the video on YouTube). I think that the fact we have to worry about the use of such a powerful and revolutionary resource like the Internet is very sad: it seems that people can spoil whatever they create, it's shameful.
I'm looking forward to hearing your opinion!
Elena
Hi Sara, reading the posts you and our classmates wrote about YouTube, I realized something I did not pay attention to when writing my own post: YouTube is, indeed, a useful tool where you can find interesting, funny and pedagogic materials, but it can also be a powerful way to convey wrong and dangerous behaviours and attitudes, such as bullism or racism... As YouTube is a totally new tool for me, I had not thought about the negative side of the coin, but now I realize how both useful and dangerous new and popular technolgies can be..
Marta
Hi, Sara!
Like you, I had already heard about YouTube before last Wednesday but I never surfed it, mainly because of my SLOW SLOW SLOW pc! ;) I agree with you when you say that it could be a dangerous tool and I understand the reasons why you're biased towards it. There's a huge amount of videos in it and it may be difficult to filter what's good and what's bad. And then, daily news doesn't help you in considering it in a positive way! Anyway, YouTube isn't the only dangerous website in the Net. I think that the whole net could be dangerous if you don't use it properly and cleverly. The trick is learning how to filter pieces of information in an effective way...But it's not so easy, isn't it?
Bye!
Hi Sara!
Sorry for my delay in posting this comment but my computer didn't want to work yesterday!
I completely agree with you and with our mates: YouTube can be very dangerous because there are many disgusting and shocking videos. I think this represents a problem mainly for younger generations, which are exposed to all this stuff and are not able to filter it. The problem is that the security measures the site offers are not effective. If you want to watch a "bad" video you are asked to enter your birth's date and that's all...and a kid can easily write what he wants...
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