The Social Dilemma, now on Netflix, is a polemic, not a documentary. I mean, the Oxford English Dictionary says a documentary “provides a factual record or report,” and this film does not do that. There’s nothing wrong with a polemic, or a wakeup call. It’s perfectly reasonable to create a film with the intention to wake people up from using tech and media unthinkingly. It is wrong to represent … [Read more...] about Beyond ‘The Social Dilemma’ to social solutions
‘Automated fame’: 1 of the TikTok stories of the moment
You’ve undoubtedly seen news stories about Charli D’Amelio, 2020’s 16-year-old TikTok phenomenon, with 6 billion likes and 82 million followers since she joined the app last spring. It was the part about “automated fame” that really caught my attention in a New Yorker story this past weekend. Charli became “the most popular creator on TikTok” partly just because of who Charli is – a very grounded … [Read more...] about ‘Automated fame’: 1 of the TikTok stories of the moment
A simple exercise for (digital) parenting
This is inspired by all the families in Parenting for a Digital Future, the book I reviewed earlier this week (I also added this as a sidebar in that post for readers' convenience). It's a little exercise to explain and expand on the statement I led the review with: “family context eclipses screen time.” Please customize to make it meaningful to your family. Instead of watching the clock to … [Read more...] about A simple exercise for (digital) parenting
#P4DF: The book about (digital) parenting
Family context eclipses screen time. If you get nothing else from the new book Parenting for a Digital Future, that one takeaway would help so many educators, policymakers, pediatricians and advocates trying to get “Internet safety” and “digital wellbeing” education right, i.e., as free of generalized pronouncements of what is and isn’t good for children as possible. It has a number of … [Read more...] about #P4DF: The book about (digital) parenting
Key SEL report from UNESCO, insights from youth in 6 countries
In what video panel discussion could you watch a high school student in Bhutan lead his peers in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Japan and South Africa, along with their adult moderator, in a mindfulness practice – after which you’d hear from a neuroscientist at a U.S. university and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Education? That would be this video, created by UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of … [Read more...] about Key SEL report from UNESCO, insights from youth in 6 countries