A couple of years ago I listened to a heart-rending interview on NPR with Joe Ehrmann, former NFL football player and founder of Coach for America. I'd been the mother of a hockey player for more than a decade and was moved by Ehrmann's call for transformational rather than transactional coaching. Like many parents, I found myself wishing there'd been more of that in our family's experience. But … [Read more...] about Transformational – not just transactional – Net safety & citizenship needed
Handling toxicity: Insights for parents & teachers from Riot Games
There's real wisdom for parents, coaches and educators – not to mention gamers, athletes and social media users – in this business story about what toxic behavior does to a team. The game in question? League of Legends, a 30 million-player "team-based game" along the lines of Capture the Flag "or, more aptly, 'destroy the enemy base'," according to Google's re:Work's description. The game company … [Read more...] about Handling toxicity: Insights for parents & teachers from Riot Games
Major update on bullying, cyberbullying in the U.S.: Study
Bullying. Why haven't we solved this social problem yet? Because, according to an important update from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine, bullying is one very complex problem. "Composition of peer groups, shifting demographics, changing societal norms, and modern technology are factors that must be considered to understand and effectively react to bullying in the … [Read more...] about Major update on bullying, cyberbullying in the U.S.: Study
Everyday superheroes: Parents & caregivers
It probably wouldn't occur to most moms, dads, foster parents, aunts, uncles and other caregivers that #WhatMakesASuperhero is just the right hashtag to mark Mother's Day (and next month, Father's Day). But a beautiful little video about five-year-old Cammie and her aunt-turned-foster mother Camellia shows how small things are superpowers to a little child. The video is part of the Vroom … [Read more...] about Everyday superheroes: Parents & caregivers
Behind the scenes of safety & free speech in social media
For a must-read article for anyone interested in safety and free speech online, some of the social media industry's most seasoned content moderators – the apps' and sites' safety managers and free speech decisionmakers – went public for the first time. "Their stories reveal how the boundaries of free speech were drawn during a period of explosive growth for a high-stakes public domain, one … [Read more...] about Behind the scenes of safety & free speech in social media