A Decade of Social Media and Adult Learning

Hi everyone, We often think of learning as something that happens in a classroom or through formal training, but sometimes, the most useful knowledge finds us when we just scroll through social media. Funny. That is precisely what happened to me. After taking a formal course to improve my Microsoft Office skills, including Word and Excel, I stumbled upon Instagram accounts that offered quick, practical tips on the same tools. Short videos, engaging visuals, and real-world examples helped me grasp tasks I had not learned in my traditional course. Suddenly, formulas in Excel made more sense. Word formatting tricks became second nature. And hacks were learned in seconds, which enabled me to get faster in my daily activities. It reminded me of how powerful informal learning can be. From my perspective, with its dynamic flow of content, social media makes knowledge feel like a river, smooth, accessible, and constantly moving. You learn at your own pace. You discover things that a rig...

Continuing with the topic that we started discussing yesterday, I have been thinking about who gets to lead, teach, and be heard in online learning communities. At first sight, social media gives the illusion of equal access, but when it comes to race and gender, I would say that the playing field is far from level. I have noticed that in many knowledge-sharing spaces, voices of color, especially women of color, are often underrepresented or overlooked. In a recent experience that I had, I noticed that posts from Black or Latinx professionals sometimes receive less engagement, or their expertise is questioned more readily than others. Meanwhile, white voices are more likely to be amplified, even when discussing the same topics. It is subtle, but persistent. It is also not just about followers or likes. It is about whose knowledge is validated, don’t you think? Algorithms shape what we see and often reflect offline biases. Safiya Noble (2018), for instance, calls this algorithmic op...

As someone invested in adult learning and community building, I have often found myself asking how we can innovate with technology and who is truly benefiting from it. When we celebrate the rise of online education, are we paying enough attention to who is being left out? The digital divide remains a persistent and troubling reality, especially for rural learners, older adults, and individuals from low-income backgrounds. It is not new that internet access is still a daily struggle for adults in rural areas. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly one in four rural residents say high-speed internet is a significant issue in their community (Anderson, 2018). That means adult learners in these regions may face serious challenges in logging into a Zoom class, downloading materials, or participating in asynchronous discussions. The convenience of digital education does not apply when the basic infrastructure is missing. Older adults are also often excluded, less by lack of motivat...