Chances are - if they already use MSN Messenger (as opposed to AOL's or Yahoo's) - your kids already have it. Even though it's not officially "in beta" (being tested by the average Net user), it's unofficially all over the place, CNET reports. Here's MSN's download page. If your child (or her whole buddy list!) is one of those early adopters, have her show you the cool new features - avatars … [Read more...] about Kids & the new MSN Messenger
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The IM life of middle-schoolers
"It's almost like, to our kids, IM is an alternate reality," a friend and parent said to me recently. I think he's right, but it seems that way to parents too. ...an alternate reality because kids behave differently when in instant-messaging mode. With fellow instant-messagers they're often more bold, freer to try different behaviors or personas than what they'd do or be in person. With people … [Read more...] about The IM life of middle-schoolers
A mom writes: IM impersonations
Just as I was working on this week's feature on the IM life of middle-schoolers, a reader, Betsy in Ohio, emailed me with a question about IM parental controls (which aren't - can't be - provided by the free, public IM services like AIM, ICQ, or Yahoo Messenger). When I replied, she kindly, over several email exchanges, shared her experience with an IM trick a couple of kids close to her had … [Read more...] about A mom writes: IM impersonations
Digital divide & kids: Fresh look
According to the latest figures available, in the 2003-04 school year, 61% of US 8-to-18-year-olds used the Internet daily, 74% had access at home, and 96% had gone online (experienced the Net at least once). Those figures are from a just-released Kaiser Family Foundation study, "Digital Divide...Where to Go From Here," urging policymakers to refocus on this issue. The 96% figure, encouragingly, … [Read more...] about Digital divide & kids: Fresh look
Vote 2004: Helping young critical thinkers
Could there be a more "teachable moment" for working with our kids on critical thinking? At least for Americans, at a very polarized point in our political history? Besides the flood of "information" we all face, for young media consumers, "it's not always obvious how to make the leap from a civics lessons involving founding fathers wearing powdered wigs to slick political ads on TV," as Shelley … [Read more...] about Vote 2004: Helping young critical thinkers