Sociality- or media-loaded, digitally enhanced intervals in lines, on the bus, at the gym may not actually be brain breaks after all, and in fact may be depriving us (and our kids) of the kind of down time we and our brains really need. Technology like smart phones, iPods, and Kindles "makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive," the New York Times reports. "But … [Read more...] about Media-loaded brain ‘breaks’: Reality check
Social Media
Let’s avoid a ‘privacy panic’
Because media are increasingly social, media users are more and more public. So – although some publics (like Justin Bieber's or Taylor Swift's) are bigger than others – we all have publics now, as social media researcher danah boyd pointed out in the middle of the past decade. I hope by now that parents, or at least the parents who read my blog, have heard that what media users want is not either … [Read more...] about Let’s avoid a ‘privacy panic’
Developing self in the digital age
Yet another article on Twitter by an expert in something (like authoring or marketing books) who's new to Twitter ran in the New York Times this week. I think it's much more interesting to read articles about Twitter by anybody (not necessarily an expert) who's not new to Twitter – in other words, someone who knows that Twitter use is highly individual and not all trivial pursuits, celebrity … [Read more...] about Developing self in the digital age
Finding & honoring teachers on Facebook
We see so much coverage of social Web abuse that it was a nice surprise to see a story about what it's great at: finding long-lost friends, relatives, classmates ... and teachers! The New York Times tells of how people out of school 20+ years use Facebook to find their favorite high school teachers and thank them: "At a time when public school teachers are being blamed for everything from poor … [Read more...] about Finding & honoring teachers on Facebook
The goal for digital citizenship: Turn it into a verb!
Readers, this is turning out to be a series on digital citizenship, because the "Jessi Slaughter" story powerfully illustrated why and how much this baseline online-safety education is needed. Yesterday in Part 1, I looked at the kind of online behavior that citizenship lessons need to address and how we can help our children avoid it. Today: the goal of citizenship instruction, which hopefully … [Read more...] about The goal for digital citizenship: Turn it into a verb!