If it's to have any real impact, “digital citizenship” needs to be clearly and simply defined. That’s what the US’s leading youth online risk researchers propose in the latest study on digital citizenship. In fact, the University of New Hampshire researchers made three recommendations: Separate it from digital literacy (Internet and technical skills) and cyberbullying prevention, which are … [Read more...] about Finally defining digital citizenship: Help from top researchers
Research
Tech likely not the main problem in cyberbullying: Breakthrough study
There are some groundbreaking takeaways (and many more insights) in new research from the University of New Hampshire – "The Role of Technology in Peer Harassment: Does It Amplify Harm for Youth?" – and my headline is one of them. Another one is the answer to the question posed in the authors' headline: "no," their data indicates. But before going any further with the takeaways, a bit about the … [Read more...] about Tech likely not the main problem in cyberbullying: Breakthrough study
‘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’
Social circles, more than social media, cause stress: Study
Social media itself doesn't increase our stress levels, but our social lives can. We knew that, right? Caring about others can cause us stress when we see them suffering, and that's one of the things social media does: expose our friends' challenges. We can probably extrapolate a few things about our children's experiences from the Pew Research Center's survey of 1,801 adults that explored … [Read more...] about Social circles, more than social media, cause stress: Study
‘Disconnected’: Crucial book for closing the ‘ethics gap’ online
I don't know about the millions of people in developing countries going online for the first time with mobile phones but, here in the developed world, something strange happened when we moved onto the Web nearly 20 years ago. It's as if we checked our thousands of years of social-norms and ethics development at the door of cyberspace. Somehow we saw that space as "technology" and got stuck there – … [Read more...] about ‘Disconnected’: Crucial book for closing the ‘ethics gap’ online