It’s definitely not your typical American high school – not the one in “Agents of Influence.” But high school is the backdrop, which is smart for a media literacy videogame aimed at middle schoolers, right? Especially a sketchy, slightly dystopian fictional one like “Virginia Hall High,” in which the game is set. First, the school occupies what used to be the HQ of “the Omni-Directional … [Read more...] about New game to help middle schoolers be media literacy masters
Youth
Apple & the child online safety challenge
2nd important update Sept. 19: As if in direct response to the open letter from privacy activists around the world, the WeProtect Global Alliance published their own statement saying Apple must not pause its expanded protections, the Guardian reported. I stand by my thoughts in the update just below. We need privacy activists and protection activists in the same room answering the questions: Would … [Read more...] about Apple & the child online safety challenge
How our kids can become ‘indistractable’
I was almost too distracted over the past couple of days to write this review of Indistractable. But there’s some real “digital parenting” wisdom in it, so here we are, blog post done. For example, co-author Nir Eyal says, “Teach traction.” The opposite of distraction isn’t focus, as we typically think. It’s traction, which “comes from the Latin trahere, meaning ‘to draw or pull',” Eyal writes. … [Read more...] about How our kids can become ‘indistractable’
Could platforms design for 2nd chances?: Insight from key study
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 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