It was inevitable. The backlash is in full swing. There were the headlines and talk-show chats about digital detoxing and then the how-to books about digital sabbaths and shabbats. Some of it was fashionable, some of it fearful – all of it good if it got us to thinking about managing and not being managed by our smartphones and other digital social tools. So now there are all kind of strategies … [Read more...] about The smart smartphone social backlash
mobile
Why Louis C.K. doesn’t let his kids have phones
The video has gone pretty viral over the past few days. On Conan O'Brien's show last week, Emmy-award-winning comedian Louis C.K. explained why he didn't want to give his daughters (aged 7 and 10) smartphones. [You can watch it at Slate.com.] What he says was – as my friend and fellow parent Anastasia Goodstein commented in Facebook – profound. But to get the depth of it, listen all the way … [Read more...] about Why Louis C.K. doesn’t let his kids have phones
App reviewer’s top Android picks for kids
TheGuardian.com in the UK has a blog devoted just to apps – a big job (with more than a million apps at Google Play's app store, passing up Apple's 900,000+ this past summer). And the blog's writer and app reviewer, Stuart Dredge, writes that he's noticed a shift in device and app use among families with kids. More and more parents are downloading children's Android apps for both smartphones and … [Read more...] about App reviewer’s top Android picks for kids
With this teen texting study, only methodology was news
The methodology for a just-released study about teens and texting was new, but the findings don't seem to break much new ground – unless the news media had picked up on what the researchers didn't highlight. More on the reporting in a minute; first the study, published by researchers at University of Texas, Dallas, in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. Past studies of teens' "texting … [Read more...] about With this teen texting study, only methodology was news
Mobile learning & edugames taking off worldwide
Whether it's the chicken or the egg – the device or the edugames – fueling the growth isn't completely clear, but "tablets are proliferating everywhere across the planet," said Sam Adkins, head of research for market research firm Ambient Insight, at the Serious Play Conference in Redmond, Wash., last week. He was referring to mobile learning – especially on tablets, where school's concerned – and … [Read more...] about Mobile learning & edugames taking off worldwide