Recently when I hop on to our class Google Meet I have a lot of this staring back at me:
When I asked students what or who that was they told me about this game they were playing, Among Us. I heard about crewmates, an imposter, and tasks. They excitedly asked if I could play with them, which I told them I did not even have the app to play. I decided it would be fun to check it out to connect with students. What I did not expect was two morning meetings devoted to an Among Us discussion.
We had been talking about community as a class. This game certainly fosters community among its players, so I asked my students for tips and tricks for playing Among Us. I had students clamoring to share ideas. Engagement was sky high. I also listened to students sharing their parents would not let them play. I asked students to be mindful as this is something not everyone is involved in, as they asked to play a game with classmates.
That night I went home and delved into the Among Us Privacy policy, as I was curious about the PIIs it collects. I came across this:
I began to wonder what students really know and understand about PIIs. We had discussed this in terms of our blogging, but we had not had a conversation about what happens when you approve an app on a device.
Our second morning meeting I started by asking students what they thought Among Us collected in the Google chat box in our meet. Students’ ideas ranged from why would they collect anything to names, location, address, school, etc. I started reading through the information they collect and was met with cries of how is that even fair or why would they do that. We had a conversation about what you could be agreeing to when you download an app on a device and the importance of looking for the PII collected. I even suggested students talk to their parents about this. Students were also surprised players of Among Us should be at least 16 years old. I told them sadly I could not play with them.
At the end of our discussion I set up three polls to capture student thinking on our morning meetings over the past two days. I asked students if they agreed or disagreed with the idea that PII should be collected. 5 students agreed, 7 disagreed, and 9 were feeling neutral. I asked if they knew companies collected information on them. 13 students responded yes while 7 said no. Lastly, I asked if they would consider looking at the PIIs collected before downloading or signing up for something. 11 said yes. 2 said no, and 7 said they would think about it. I am glad 18 agents will look or think about looking moving forward.
I encourage parents and educators to talk to their children who are under age and using these applications. It is important they are aware of data collection and how data privacy impacts us all.
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