Yet another article on Twitter by an expert in something (like authoring or marketing books) who's new to Twitter ran in the New York Times this week. I think it's much more interesting to read articles about Twitter by anybody (not necessarily an expert) who's not new to Twitter – in other words, someone who knows that Twitter use is highly individual and not all trivial pursuits, celebrity … [Read more...] about Developing self in the digital age
Risk & Safety
Software that blocks texting while driving
Thirty states have banned texting while driving, but the bans are tough to enforce. So two companies, WebSafety Inc. in Texas and Manage Mobility in Georgia are partnering to provide software to government agencies and businesses" for disabling texting, email, and Web browsers on cellphones while cars are in motion, USATODAY reports. For people who want to impose a little self-discipline on … [Read more...] about Software that blocks texting while driving
What ‘justice’ means to Phoebe Prince’s dad
Emily Bazelon, whose in-depth series on what happened in and out of South Hadley High School leading to and since Phoebe Prince's recently appeared in Slate, talked with Phoebe's father, Jeremy Prince. He told Bazelon what Phoebe was like during the three weeks he spent with her over the holidays, that she didn't seem suicidal, wasn't told to be on medication, talked with him a lot. But the one … [Read more...] about What ‘justice’ means to Phoebe Prince’s dad
Got a ‘jailbreaker’ wannabe at your house?
The other day my 13-year-old mentioned in passing that he wished he could figure out how to jailbreak his iTouch so he could download free game apps (I got the feeling that messing around and figuring it out with friends was kind of a game itself). It made me smile, though, that this came up the very day the news broke that "jailbreaking" is ok now (see The Independent). What does "ok" mean? Well, … [Read more...] about Got a ‘jailbreaker’ wannabe at your house?
The goal for digital citizenship: Turn it into a verb!
Readers, this is turning out to be a series on digital citizenship, because the "Jessi Slaughter" story powerfully illustrated why and how much this baseline online-safety education is needed. Yesterday in Part 1, I looked at the kind of online behavior that citizenship lessons need to address and how we can help our children avoid it. Today: the goal of citizenship instruction, which hopefully … [Read more...] about The goal for digital citizenship: Turn it into a verb!