No stage of life is easy, but being a teen is hard in a very particular way. “Adolescence is a period of rapid cognitive, social and emotional development,” said researcher Amanda Lenhart, Health & Data lead at the Data & Society Research Institute in New York, at a conference this week, for example. “They’re a protected legal category. They don’t have the same power or ability to make … [Read more...] about Could platforms design for 2nd chances?: Insight from key study
Youth
Youth rights’ digital upgrade: Cause for celebration
There is so much to celebrate about General Comment 25, which for the first time spells out what digital human rights look like for people worldwide – people under 18, technically, but in many ways for all people. Because this addendum to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the first binding international document to spell out human rights concerning all things … [Read more...] about Youth rights’ digital upgrade: Cause for celebration
Finally! A YouTube (flexibly) designed for kids 9-12
Tweens are no longer little kids, but they’re also not yet teens. Like all their peers, younger and older, 9-to-12-year-olds love to explore and mess around with media, especially video. They want to be safe so they don’t have to worry, which means they really don’t mind a little help from parental types, but they also don’t want to be contained in an app for “little kids.” YouTube Kids, which … [Read more...] about Finally! A YouTube (flexibly) designed for kids 9-12
Pepe the Frog, GameStop & the gamification of reality
You probably heard about GameStop, the WallStreetBets subreddit, Robinhood app and what’s been called the biggest “short squeeze” in 25 years – all of which was last week boiled down to the phrase “meme stock mania.” You also may’ve heard of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character created for a comic book in 2005 that somehow, in a weird, circuitous, Internet way, became a meme for the alt-right, … [Read more...] about Pepe the Frog, GameStop & the gamification of reality
Young artists & activists wrapping 2020 in light
So many of us lost heart, our voices, our strength at different points in the past year, and possibly none more than young people. “Since the start of the pandemic, mental health-related emergency department visits increased by 31% for 12-17-year-olds,” Mental Health America cites data from the Centers for Disease Control as showing. And according to YPulse, 64% of Gen Z-ers themselves say their … [Read more...] about Young artists & activists wrapping 2020 in light