Consider this Part 2 of 3. Earlier this month I wrote about the earliest takes on ChatGPT, zooming in on how it could be really good for media literacy education. Now we know more. So below another dimension of this new technology with a cautionary note.... Ok, the dark side. I don't usually go "there," because, well, our brains typically do, by default, whenever a new technology emerges, and … [Read more...] about Then there’s the flip side of ChatGPT
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
Finally! A YouTube (flexibly) designed for kids 9-12
Tweens are no longer little kids, but they’re also not yet teens. Like all their peers, younger and older, 9-to-12-year-olds love to explore and mess around with media, especially video. They want to be safe so they don’t have to worry, which means they really don’t mind a little help from parental types, but they also don’t want to be contained in an app for “little kids.” YouTube Kids, which … [Read more...] about Finally! A YouTube (flexibly) designed for kids 9-12
Online safety after Trump’s deplatforming
Among many other things, the past 24 hours were a pivotal moment for content moderation – for online safety worldwide. I'm usually not US-centric in the way I think about online safety, but what happened in Washington and online, yesterday and since, and then with the global platforms, showed us how far our thinking – and questions – about Internet safety have come. Last night Facebook and … [Read more...] about Online safety after Trump’s deplatforming
Finally, kids can have their own Google accounts (with parents’ help)
Google made a bit of history today, opening up its universe of apps and services to users under 13 as their parents design it. Family Link, the name of the new parental control toolset, describes it well: Parents download the tools to their own and the kids' devices, then link them up for a whole family's real-time digital device management. Family Link "marks one of the first attempts by a … [Read more...] about Finally, kids can have their own Google accounts (with parents’ help)