We ConnectSafely folk are pleased (and excited) to tell you about our new little Facebook guide for parents, educators, and everybody looking for the basics on the world's most popular social networking site – what it is, why young people use it, how to turn it into a great parenting tool, and how to optimize its privacy settings for teens. I started NetFamilyNews 11 years ago on the premise that … [Read more...] about Check out our new ‘Parents’ Guide to Facebook’!
Parenting
Parenting & overparenting in the digital age
What struck me about danah boyd's post about the helicopter-parenting of social media users was that the banning of Facebook forces young people "to choose between social status and parental obedience." Though I wouldn't put it exactly that way, my own parenting experience tells me she's right. My 18-year-old and 13-year-old both use Facebook, although (and quite naturally) differently, because … [Read more...] about Parenting & overparenting in the digital age
A window onto family Facebook use: TRUSTe study
Eighty percent of US parents of teens have a social networking account; of those parents, 95% have Facebook accounts; and of that 95%, the vast majority (86%) are friends with their teens in Facebook. Interestingly, in those households where both a parent and a teen have Facebook accounts, more than a third of the teens said they got their parent to join Facebook," reports TRUSTe, which … [Read more...] about A window onto family Facebook use: TRUSTe study
Parents, you’re not just focusing on FB, right?
It's great that parents are getting the message that they can monitor their kids on Facebook by joining it, but they also need to remember that Facebook isn't the all of teen online socializing (even though it's in the news a lot!). It's just the big social utility that aggregates basically "everybody" in teens' real-world school and social lives. But there's plenty more social activity happening … [Read more...] about Parents, you’re not just focusing on FB, right?
A parent & educator on what gaming can teach
To parent, educator, and graduate student Seann Dikkers, videogaming is a great parenting, teaching, and learning tool. A teacher for 10 years and school administrator for four, Dikkers is now working on his PhD in education, and he says in his site, GamingMatter.com, that the PhD part is his students' fault because they "were the first to ‘get it’ and point him toward games as a means to … [Read more...] about A parent & educator on what gaming can teach