Educational Media Reviews Online

This video focuses on several individuals who use the Internet as a means of connecting to the world such as an 8-year old who is being home-schooled, a monk developing an online prayer group, and a woman who exchanges vows with a man she never met. The message throughout the video is rather bleak and most of these individuals come across as very lonely and even dysfunctional.

I was left with the impression that the makers of this video have a rather dour view of the Internet in providing human contact to people. The video tends to focus on the strangeness of the contacts these people make rather than on what can be gained not only intellectually, but emotionally as well.

Overall, the video is of excellent quality and the sound and images are very clear. One small complaint is that the text which introduces the “characters” in this video is too small and at the bottom left of the screen. Several times I almost missed it.

This video is recommended for students in Junior High and up to initiate discussions about the Internet. It might be useful to show this to classes to help them to understand that the Internet does not replace human contact, but may add to it.