I get tired of clever terms like "iDistraction," as found in Sunday's New York Times, featuring a photo of a family of four lined up on a couch, each person using a different device. Let's do ourselves a favor and employ a little critical thinking when pictures and terms like these suggest families (and relationships and child development and so many other things) are going to hell. [My headline … [Read more...] about Only sometimes ‘alone together’ in the same room
New Media
‘Tiger mother’ or not
I took my sons out for sushi the other night and, to my amazement, heard them telling me something very similar to what Susan Maushart, a New Yorker who was living in Western Australia, writes in her new book about totally unplugging her teenage kids for six months. My very social sons, 13 and 18, whom I have not unplugged, told me that "all this technology we [teenagers] constantly use is hurting … [Read more...] about ‘Tiger mother’ or not
Today’s ‘low barrier to participation”
Those are media professor Henry Jenkins's words in a talk he gave to USC students' parents this fall about "raising the digital generation." It's good to be reminded that Facebook, MySpace, (or Hyves, studiVZ, or Tuenti in Europe, for example) are not the all of social media for youth – that today's highly interactive, global digital media lower the barrier of participation in all sorts of … [Read more...] about Today’s ‘low barrier to participation”