Two messages in two media – video and text – by a prime minister and a professor got me, and I'm sure many others, thinking about the good, not-so-good and necessary connecting we human beings are doing on digital devices now, at both international and personal levels. I haven't heard a politician from any country speak of using social media the way India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi did at … [Read more...] about A prime minister & a professor: True connecting in a digital age
Parenting
Social media & what our kids could be teaching us
Two years ago, when "selfie" was named "Word of the Year" and the spontaneous snapping of self-portraits on cellphones was being vilified as yet another example of youth's narcissism, author and educator Rachel Simmons posted a bit of healthy disruption. She wrote in Slate, "Consider this: The selfie is a tiny pulse of girl pride - a shout-out to the self." Simmons gets it. She adds, "Some girls … [Read more...] about Social media & what our kids could be teaching us
Social media literacy 101 (for adults)
"I can't even" possibly know what I'm seeing in teens' tweets, texts and posts. Not until I ask them. The very fact that I continued that sentence past the close quote demonstrates that. What do I mean? They hide meaning in plain site. Have you heard researcher danah boyd's term "social steganography"? It means hiding in plain view in social media. She wrote about that way back in 2010, and it's … [Read more...] about Social media literacy 101 (for adults)
For kids’ sake, don’t ‘black box’ social media
For our children's sake, it's more important than ever that we not "black box" our media, whether as researchers or as parents and educators. An essay from psychologist and media professor Sonia Livingstone in the new scholarly journal Social Media + Society got me thinking about this. Dr. Livingstone observes that scholars in disciplines other than media and communications are doing that … [Read more...] about For kids’ sake, don’t ‘black box’ social media
‘Game of 72’: Let’s apply a little ‘social norming’
This is a perfect example of why we need to apply what we know about social norming to social media panics. And in a rare show of levelheadedness from the news media, Global News in Canada helps us get there. "The Game of 72 – a viral prank urging kids to disappear for 72 hours – is the latest in a series of risky pranks being done by kids and then shared to social media. But the prank, and … [Read more...] about ‘Game of 72’: Let’s apply a little ‘social norming’