In our pods we talked about what personal learning networks are and how they can sometimes be misused. A personal learning network is a group of people that gather via social media to exchanges ideas together in a way that is visible to the public. Some examples are social media platforms like LinkdIn, websites or blogs and even discords. These are all public platforms that anyone can view and openly discuss while interaction with others. While these platforms can be very helpful they can also be misused in several ways. One of the biggest ways that personal leaning networks can be miscued is through spreading misinformation. Ai videos have been a large factor of false information being spread. When Ai videos first started circling around it was very obvious, they were fake but more recently the videos have been looking a little too real. Before the images looked extremally warped and very obviously unrealist. Ai videos now have the potently to replace one persona face with another persona face without any obvious flaws, this can lead to someone be accused of something they never actually said. Something I have also noticed in my degree (Political Science) is that politicians speeches can be edited to it looks and sounds like they are saying something completely different than what they are actually saying.

The image below shows a good representation on how Ai has evolved throughout the years. I was introduced to Ai in 2019 by the family I was nannying for, at the time I was 18 and I had literally no idea what they were talking about. I remember how convinced they were that Ai was going to take over the world and I thought they were absolutely out to lunch but I think back now that they might have been onto something.

Another common misuse of personal learning networks is cyberbullying and negative interactions. Cyberbullying has always been around, but it has become significantly worse in the last five years especially during and after covid. Social media has been known to have a huge impact on people’s brains and especially people’s mental health. Research has shown that excessive social media use can increase anxiety and depression, lower self-esteem and distorts people’s perception of the world. In 2025 Australian banned social media for users under 16 and Canada is not far behind from doing the same thing.

Is Canada’s teen social media ban constitutional? It’s complicated