This video, which I came across accidentally on YouTube, raises some
interesting issues I think. Watch it, and then consider the questions which
follow... :-)
This video was meant to be humorous, obviously (it comes from a site called
College Humor), but like all good humour there's a serious
side to it too. For me, these are the issues raised in the video that might
provide fertile ground for discussion with students:
1. From a psychological point of view, the approach taken by the main
character is completely wrong. He tries to outdo his rival in love by becoming
not merely like him, but actually becoming
him. According to Stephen Potter, that is completely the opposite of what one
should do, as I've explained in my Technology & Learning blog article.
2. He decides to become like him via Facebook, and to damage his reputation
in the process. Is this actually any different, in principle, to what some nasty
people have done since time immemorial?
3. You could use this as an interesting launching point for a discussion of
identity theft. The scenario depicted in the video is far-fetched, but the basic
activity shown is identity theft.
4. Look at how the "hero" gets into his rival's Facebook account. Not by
hacking, but by entering the correct name and password. Read any book about
hacking and you will discover that the single biggest threat to security is
people's carelessness when it comes to protecting their login details. I quite
often hear, when I visit schools, that the kids are getting access to files they
shouldn't, simply because their teachers log on to the network and then leave
themselves logged on all day, including periods when their computer is left
unattended. What the video illustrates is a possible outcome if the wrong kind
of person gets into your area -- so maybe this is a good video to show in a
staff training session too.
5. Perhaps the overriding message, and one which makes this suitable for
starting a discussion with parents, is that FaceBook isn't the problem here,
it's the way it's been used. The same would apply to any other tool: even a
screwdriver can be either a handy instrument or a lethal weapon.
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