This was a fun study to read, especially because it tells the stories of the tech and family lives of Gabriella Guzman and Sierra Ramirez (ages 8 and 7, respectively) in the Los Angeles area. Of the children author Lori Takeuchi of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center writes, "They were somewhat ordinary as far as their digital media use was concerned. None were budding moviemakers, prodigy programmers, or … [Read more...] about The complexities of raising kids in a digital age: Study
Parenting
You know that’s not your child’s Internet, right?
So Amina Arraf, "gay girl in Damascus," was actually a straight man from Georgia, USA, living in Scotland. "We could not make this up," wrote reporter Monica Hesse in the Washington Post. But regardless of how many similar Internet fictions she points to and how great her writing is, this is very unlikely to be your children's Internet, parents – just enjoy the story. How can I say that? Because … [Read more...] about You know that’s not your child’s Internet, right?
Top EU policymaker on trusting our online kids
It's amazing to hear a policymaker say this: "We cannot, and should not, put our children and youngsters in a digital glass cage, hoping they will never encounter any harmful or illegal content online. This will simply not work." That was Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice president and the EU's top legislator for digital issues, in a speech marking International Missing Children's Day (May … [Read more...] about Top EU policymaker on trusting our online kids
‘Do no harm’: Message to educators, parents
This is interesting. University of Southern California Prof. Henry Jenkins didn't put it exactly this way, but I don't think he'd disagree: It's almost as if, at this particular point in history (the history of education, media, and technology, in any case), educators need the same first principle of practice that doctors in emergency medicine have. "Like with a physician, the first statement … [Read more...] about ‘Do no harm’: Message to educators, parents
Social media: Time to end the laments & get on with it, maybe?!
I wrote it before I read New York Times executive editor and parent Bill Keller's stylish dismissal of social media, but "Hawk drama (& human drama) in the digital age" would've been my response. It was about how we really need to think about "the observer effect" on both the experiment (red-tailed hawks, or youth in social media) and the observer (people at the viewer end of the "hawk cam," … [Read more...] about Social media: Time to end the laments & get on with it, maybe?!