I love the parenthetical in the headline of "Five Ways to Break Your Kids’ Screen Addiction (and Yours, Too)," by Yahoo family tech columnist Dan Tynan. Because – if there's such a thing as screen addiction and it's not just something fashionable to (anxiously) joke about – what we model for our kids in our own use of phone and other screens has huge influence on them. [You've probably seen videos … [Read more...] about The real goal of unplugging
Parenting
Kik Messenger’s smart new safety features
Kik Messenger, which claims to be the US's 7th most popular social app and ranks even higher in some other countries, today released a new version that gives its 120 million+ users more control over who can text them. Over the past year, its creators at Waterloo, Ontario-based Kik Interactive noticed the app has become "the leading cross-app messenger," they claimed. That means that people who … [Read more...] about Kik Messenger’s smart new safety features
A media mentor for every child
Author and journalist Lisa Guernsey has a great idea – one that clearly grows out of her research for the recent book, Screen Time: How Electronic Media – From Baby Videos to Educational Software – Affects Your Young Child, and her work in early childhood education for public policy think tank the New America Foundation. [I loved her cover story for The Atlantic based on the book and wrote about … [Read more...] about A media mentor for every child
From connected learning to P2P learning
With kids in your life, certainly you've heard of tutorials and instructional videos on YouTube. But of course they're not just for kids, and it's exciting to think about all the learning, from guitar lessons to algebra to DIY plumbing, that goes on all over the Web and mobile platform – self-directed, -customized and -paced learning. Tutorials are there for people to learn just about anything … [Read more...] about From connected learning to P2P learning
How Yik Yak is different from other social media
Based on news reports and conversations with educators about troubles with Yik Yak, the location-based anonymous texting app, at schools in many parts of the US, three scenarios leap to mind…. Remember that kid at school (or maybe that frat house) who felt the need or the pressure to set off the fire alarm to see what would happen, test the system, get attention or whatever social … [Read more...] about How Yik Yak is different from other social media