Social education: opportunities and challenges in Internet and social networks

Akbar Salehi*

Amir Moradi**

The main purpose of this research is to explain and evaluate internet and social networks opportunities and challenges for social education. The questions of the research are proposed as follows: what is the relation between internet and social networks and social education? What are internet and social networks opportunities and challenges for social education? The research uses a critical-descriptive and quantitative content analysis method. The results show that the most important opportunities for social education in internet and social networks include: encouraging the users to participate in useful social contributions, passing through geographical boundaries and knowing different people, societies, and cultures, creation and promotion of collective wisdom, freedom of beliefs and ideas, and exercising social skills. The main threats also include: increasing social isolation and lowering actual social relations with parents, friends and relatives, priority of “identity creation” aspect of internet and social networks over its “identity making” aspect, making virtual intimate relations, threatening face-to-face relations, promotion of pornography, and disregarding the privacy.

Keywords: opportunities, challenges, internet threats, social networks, social education.

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* .Assistant professor of the philosophy of education group, Kharazmi  University, Department of psychology and education sciences, salehihidj2@yahoo.com

** . PhD student of the philosophy of education,  Kharazmi  University, amirmoradi8@yahoo.com