The Media Equation

This is a little divergence from the main topic to include an assignment from my Ed Tech coursework this semester. After reading the first chapter of the book The Media Equation by Reeves, Byron, and Clifford Nass. 1996, Cambridge University Press, I had to think about the claims of "media equal real life". Now I can easily understand how that applies to young children. Young children are very literal and it doesn't take much for them to think things on TV or computers are real. I can remember my elderly grandmother wondering how an actress on one TV show had died and then is alive and well on another show. There is also the concern of the violence on videos and games desensitizing youth to violence. But I'm not sure that I'm a part of this equation.
If media is the same as real life, then we need to think about how and what we present to students using technology. As I think about this in relationship to the interactive whiteboard use, I need to realize that the students can and often will believe whatever is presented is real. The IWB allows pictures to be life size which would only add to the reality factor. I already know that the students are amazed by the interactive pens and can't figure out why they only work on the IWB and how you can interchange the colors and also use your finger for writing. They have difficulty understanding the technology behind the writing on the IWB. You can see the emotions on their faces when photos and or film is presented to them. Sometimes you can even catch a child talking back to a character or picture. When the students are playing a game on the board, they will press harder as their excitement increases as if that would make a difference in how the IWB will react. Although this hasn't happened in my class, I can imagine very young student peeking behind the board looking for the "real" thing.
I have never really thought about this topic and it's relationship to teaching. I do know that the ages I teach are very literal. Like when I had been talking about us having a make-up day due to hurricanes and one young girl asked if that meant we would have to wear make-up. I will look differently at what I use on the IWB and help the young ones to recognize the that the images are media and not real. It also affects the use of movement on the screen, as Reeves, Byron, and Clifford say, to orient the students to the screen. This could be why the interactive dice I use with the IWB are so popular with the students.
As for me, well, when I am talking to my computer to try and get it to do what I want or lamenting the frozen screen or laughing at a photo that touches my funny bone I guess I am treating the media as real life. Hmmmmm.
If you would like to read the chapter, go to:
http://guir.berkeley.edu/courses/cs198/papers/mediaeq.pdf