Read the lede anecdote of this Washington Post story and tell me if you think Kimiya's 11th-grade English teacher didn't come up with a brilliant solution to help her. Using Twitter. And yet the Virginia Board of Education apparently thinks that the use of social media in school assignments could be the slippery slope that leads to more teachers becoming sexual predators. "The push for new … [Read more...] about Virginia school officials, pls get this right!
Risk & Safety
‘Juvenoia,’ Part 1: Why Internet fear is overrated
Referred to variously as technopanic, predator panic, cyberbullying panic, etc., a lot of fear and anxiety has developed around the intersection of youth and the Internet. Very interestingly, last fall David Finkelhor – director of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center (CCRC) and lead author of the US's first national study on youth risk online in 2000 – used … [Read more...] about ‘Juvenoia,’ Part 1: Why Internet fear is overrated
New phone app: Color me (& us) careful!
The new Color photo-sharing app for iPhone and Android smartphones, is free, potentially fun, and has no age restrictions. And it will probably have a lot of appeal for our highly social, digital photography-loving kids who love to share and tag. It also has staying power. Color "has all-star founders who have an impressive track record," reports ReadWriteWeb, and they raised $41 million to get … [Read more...] about New phone app: Color me (& us) careful!
Guest post: How about some FACTS on UK teen sexting?
The research-reporting impairment that unfortunately afflicts so many, so often, flared up at the UK tabloid the Daily Mail late last week. YouthFacts.org, experts at debunking disinformation and misinformation about youth, looked at both the reporting and the study (of British 11-to-18-year-olds conducted by the UK's South West Grid for Learning and the University of Plymouth) that received the … [Read more...] about Guest post: How about some FACTS on UK teen sexting?
Facebook deletes ‘thousands of U13 accounts a day’
This wouldn't be a bad media literacy lesson! I had to click from CNN to Fast Company to AllFacebook.com to get to the original coverage in Australia's Daily Telegraph, which reported that "about 20,000 children are kicked off Facebook every day for lying about their age" (language that oddly suggests punishment). The Daily Telegraph was basing its lede on a statement made by Facebook adviser and … [Read more...] about Facebook deletes ‘thousands of U13 accounts a day’