Researchers keep coming up with different numbers, but what doesn't change is that… Most kids do not engage in bullying or cyberbullying There's considerable overlap between online and offline aggression among kids who do Bullying is not on the rise, but there's more of it going on than cyberbullying The prevalence of cyberbullying has been widely overstated. "Reports of a … [Read more...] about Bullying still > cyberbullying, but most kids do neither
Why we mustn’t have a participation gap: 2 students’ experiences
The other day, two school librarians posted an insightful article about two students – Jessica, just starting her junior of high school, and Michael, who just graduated – who stand on opposite sides of the "participation gap," Prof. Henry Jenkins's term for the digital divide of participatory media and today's networked world. They describe what conditions in schools close the gap and what … [Read more...] about Why we mustn’t have a participation gap: 2 students’ experiences
Virtual, tangible, interactive & mobile ‘toys’
Remember Pokemon cards? My kids were crazy about them when they were little, and I didn't mind supporting that passion because the cards were part of what seemed like a whole field of child anthropology. At a very young age, kids were learning about the traits, customs, physical abilities, relations, culture, etc. of an imaginary species – and sharing that knowledge in collaboratively designed … [Read more...] about Virtual, tangible, interactive & mobile ‘toys’
Puzzling over ‘Internet addiction’
While the US mental healthcare field is considering whether "Internet addiction" is a disorder, it doesn't seem to understand how vast and diverse Internet use is. When a CNN reporter asks psychiatry professor Charles O'Brien at University of Pennsylvania – chair of the working group that determines whether disorders make an official list in the United States – about it, both use "Internet … [Read more...] about Puzzling over ‘Internet addiction’
Instagram: Teens’ alternative to texting, FB?
Shades of social media researcher danah boyd's finding on teens' "social steganography" (hiding in plain sight): The Daily reports (about halfway into a 2-min. video) that, because so many parents are now monitoring their kids on Facebook and checking their texts, "an enormous amount of teenagers" are using Instagram to take random photos just so they can chat privately in the comments under them. … [Read more...] about Instagram: Teens’ alternative to texting, FB?