It’s an inspiring – and necessary – growing trend: looking at well-being through the lens of children’s own digital experiences. Necessary because, in order to understand how good or bad young people’s experiences are in digital spaces, we have to talk with them – about their experiences now and their desires and designs for better ones going forward. “There is no universal agreement as to … [Read more...] about Children’s own views on well-being: Global study
Most kids are fine online: New study
It’s time for a serious rethink about teen mental health and digital media, an important report urges – because “most adolescents using technology do so in ways that do not lead to increased risk of negative health consequences,” write the authors of “Adolescent Digital Technology & Media Use,” led by Megan Moreno, MD, at the University of Wisconsin. “Most” is a key word, there, because … [Read more...] about Most kids are fine online: New study
Datafied Childhoods the book
A grabbier headline for this post might be “Screens are watching us back,” but that would be like so many scary news headlines parents are subjected to. More importantly, it wouldn’t do justice to all that this important new book – Datafied Childhoods, by Profs. Giovanna Mascheroni in Italy and Andra Siibak in Estonia – offers us. It provides…. Preparation not only for handling the new tech … [Read more...] about Datafied Childhoods the book
Powerful parenting for child safety online, offline
“The importance of a strong, positive relationship between a parent and child cannot be overstated. Reams of research has shown this to be true,” writes Prof. Justin Patchin of the Cyberbullying Research Center (CRC). And yet over the 20+-year-long public discussion about child online safety we’ve seen so little evidence – especially in news coverage and hearings on Capitol Hill – that all this … [Read more...] about Powerful parenting for child safety online, offline
Media literacy and an invasion: The view from Estonia
As I write this today, less than a week into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I’m wearing three hats: those of a digital safety specialist, a proud board member of the US’s National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) and a digital nomad who loves Estonia, where I’m based this year. The third hat first, with a little geographical and cultural context. The start of the invasion was … [Read more...] about Media literacy and an invasion: The view from Estonia