There are no lurkers in the Slingshot app. It's Facebook's latest answer to users' interest in disappearing (often called "ephemeral") media and messages. What I mean by "no lurkers" is, as my ConnectSafely co-director Larry Magid explains, unlike Snapchat and Facebook's now defunct Poke, "in order to view someone’s photo or video, you have to send one back [in Slingshot] Facebook bills the app as … [Read more...] about Facebook’s new Slingshot aimed at Snapchat
Social Media
Amazon’s Fire Phone could be a hot holiday item
Now there's a phone that puts the Amazon store and all that accompanying "retail therapy" right in people's pockets. It's a pretty slick looking little device, so here's fair warning to parents worried about kids getting caught up in consumer culture that you may see this on some wish lists. [Of course, this is not to say that Amazon.com with all its convenience isn't already in our pockets (and … [Read more...] about Amazon’s Fire Phone could be a hot holiday item
New from ConnectSafely: ‘A Parents’ Guide to Mobile Phones’
It's hard to know exactly how many kids and teens have mobile phones right now, but we do know that over a year ago more than a third (37%) of US 12-to-17-year-olds had smartphones, up from 23% in 2011, and a whopping 78% had some kind of mobile phone. That's from the Pew Internet Project, one of the best US sources on youth and tech. We also know that mobile phones are how young people access … [Read more...] about New from ConnectSafely: ‘A Parents’ Guide to Mobile Phones’
A task force report & a student bill of rights
One of the most remarkable things about the report of the Aspen Task Force on Learning & the Internet, I believe, is how in sync it is with students' own view of what needs to happen in US education. Clearly, if a constitutional convention on students' rights were held today, the various parties – students, educators, parents, policymakers – would have a good deal of common ground right out of … [Read more...] about A task force report & a student bill of rights
Toward student-centered learning: Delete fear, add agency
"School," said University of Maryland student and game designer Erik Martin in a TEDx talk last fall, "operates counter to the interests of children. In school, we're not really taught to overcome a challenge; we're taught to fear the prospect of failure…. How on earth can you innovate in a system that fears failure so much?... Our education method … doesn't create resilient, inspired … [Read more...] about Toward student-centered learning: Delete fear, add agency