The importance of the new book – Young People in Digital Society: Control Shift – cannot be exaggerated. It provides the scholarship we adults need to make the pivot of the 21st century: away from dictating to young people and toward partnering with them as we all figure out life in this ever more digitally powered world. It’s also a wakeup call. “Control Shift” is an economical, cleverly … [Read more...] about A pivotal book for digital safety & citizenship
New ‘Privacy Toolkit’ for youth, co-created with youth
“What do children know, and want to know, about where their data goes?” is the all-important question that leads the Children’s Data & Privacy Online project’s blog post about its just-released report. I say “all-important” because it’s a fundamental right of children to form and express their views on matters that affect them (see Article 12 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the … [Read more...] about New ‘Privacy Toolkit’ for youth, co-created with youth
Spark Change: A book taking (digital) citizenship to a new level
Olivia Van Ledtje, just now 12, tells the story of giving a talk in a western Massachusetts elementary school auditorium that was packed with students and teachers from three school communities – when she was 10. She writes that, after her talk, the students wanted to ask “loads of one-of-a-kind kid questions – the kind I can never feel fully prepared to answer. “Luckily, the one-of-a-kind … [Read more...] about Spark Change: A book taking (digital) citizenship to a new level
Digital wellness: What is, & isn’t, parody
“Social media seriously harms your mental health” goes the message on the back of smartphones ironically held in the perfectly manicured hands of super models and other social media influencers, two of whom get “hundreds of thousands of likes on nearly every photo they post to Instagram,” the Verge reports. The message is on the back of a clear plastic phone case that has gone viral but not … [Read more...] about Digital wellness: What is, & isn’t, parody
Uncontroversial: Online porn in sex ed
The other day, prominent UK professor Sonia Livingstone tweeted that the latest post in the Parenting for a Digital Future blog (which she helped create) has proven controversial. That’s not a huge surprise. The post argues that not including online porn in high school sex education classes “is a missed opportunity.” I agree. The post’s writer, Claire Meehan, a lecturer in criminology at the … [Read more...] about Uncontroversial: Online porn in sex ed