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‘Playful by Design,’ a landmark report

December 13, 2021 By Anne 1 Comment

Research in the report

What better subject to zoom in on during the holiday season than play? I've written a lot on the subject, here, through the years but, in a way, this is Part 4 of a series I started in 2009 (here are the 2nd and 3rd parts). So now, at the turn of a new year, it’s not only a perfect time but high time to come back to the power of play. Happy holidays to all who celebrate them, happiness to those … [Read more...] about ‘Playful by Design,’ a landmark report

Filed Under: childrens rights, Parenting, play, Research, Risk & Safety, Youth Tagged With: Connected Camps, Digital Futures Commission, Fortnite, gaming, Kruakae Pothong, Marianne Malmstrom, MineCraft, Nintendo, RingFit, Roblox, Scott Nicholson, Sonia Livingstone, Stuart Brown, TikTok, videogames, WhatsApp, Wii, YouTube, Zoom

About ‘Momo’ & dealing with viral media scares

August 27, 2018 By Anne 15 Comments

Momo sculpture

There's no rhyme or reason to these things. They show up on different social media platforms, start in different parts of the world, but don’t always "go viral" in regions where they started. There are cultural aspects to what makes them take off but also universal ones: They "excite children's and teens’ imaginations, increase careless media outlets' appetite and opportunities for bigger … [Read more...] about About ‘Momo’ & dealing with viral media scares

Filed Under: apps, Literacy & Citizenship, Parenting, Social Media, Youth Tagged With: "Blue Whale", Deleted, Georgi Apostolov, Michelle Lipkin, Momo, NAMLE, Poynter, WhatsApp

Messaging apps rule: What’s interesting about that for parents

March 21, 2016 By Anne Leave a Comment

This statement stopped me in my tracks when I was reading about how messaging apps now reign supreme in social media: "'Ask and you shall receive' has become the new customer experience." I'll tell you why that gave me pause in a moment. First a look at what's being reported about mobile messaging. "The top four messaging apps—WhatsApp and Messenger (both owned by Facebook), WeChat and … [Read more...] about Messaging apps rule: What’s interesting about that for parents

Filed Under: apps, mobile, Parenting, Social Media, texting, Youth Tagged With: Alison Ledgerwood, David Finkelhor, Facebook Messenger, Kik, messaging, messenger apps, Susan Stiffelman, texting apps, Viber, WeChat, WhatsApp

Millennials’ top 10 apps at the turn of the year

January 3, 2016 By Anne Leave a Comment

Youth digital research firm YPULSE's "most clicked article of 2015" didn't hold a lot of surprises, but it might be useful to note teens' and millennials' top picks here at the turn of the year. Facebook owns three of the Top 10 apps: Instagram (No. 1), the Facebook app (2nd) and Whatsapp, which appears to tie with YouTube and the Weather app for 7th place, and Google two of them (its search app … [Read more...] about Millennials’ top 10 apps at the turn of the year

Filed Under: apps, Social Media, Youth Tagged With: Facebook, Google, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, Tumblr, twitter, Weather app, WhatsApp, YouTube

The universe in an app: Will youth create a trend within the trend?

April 21, 2015 By Anne Leave a Comment

The days of simple, single-use apps may be over. Or not, depending on the user, his or her context and a whole lot of other factors. But there is a bit of a trend among messaging apps. Not all apps – particularly the No. 1 messaging app, Facebook's WhatsApp with 600+ million users – are part of it, though, so where you are in the world has been a driver of this trend so far. The trend, … [Read more...] about The universe in an app: Will youth create a trend within the trend?

Filed Under: apps, kids, mobile, Parenting, Social Media, teens, texting, tweens, Youth Tagged With: Facebook Messenger, LINE, messaging, messengers, Snapchat, texting apps, WeChat, WhatsApp

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Anne Collier


Bio and my...
2016 TEDx Talk on
the heart of digital citizenship

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Follow me on MASTODON
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See me on YouTube

IMPORTANT RESOURCES

Our (DIGITAL) PARENTING BASICS: Safety + Social
NAMLE, the National Association for Media Literacy Education
CASEL.org & the 5 core social-emotional competencies of SEL
Center for Democracy & Technology
Center for Innovative Public Health Research
Childnet International
Committee for Children
Congressional Internet Caucus Academy
ConnectSafely.org
Control Shift: a pivotal book for Internet safety
Crimes Against Children Research Center
Crisis Textline
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative's Revenge Porn Crisis Line
Cyberwise.org
danah boyd's blog and book about networked youth
Disconnected, Carrie James's book on digital ethics
FOSI.org's Good Digital Parenting
The research of Global Kids Online
The Good Project at Harvard's School of Education
If you watch nothing else: "Parenting in a Digital Age" TED Talk by Prof. Sonia Livingstone
The International Bullying Prevention Association
Let Grow Foundation
Making Caring Common
Raising Digital Natives, author Devorah Heitner's site
Renee Hobbs at the Media Education Lab
MediaSmarts.ca
The New Media Literacies
Report of the Aspen Task Force on Learning & the Internet and our guide to Creating Trusted Learning Environments
The Ruler Approach to social-emotional learning (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence)
Sources of Strength
"Young & Online: Perspectives on life in a digital age" from young people in 26 countries (via UNICEF)
"Youth Safety on a Living Internet": 2010 report of the Online Safety & Technology Working Group (and my post about it)

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Founded as a nonprofit public service in 1999, NetFamilyNews quickly became the “community newspaper” of a vital interest community of subscribers in more than 50 countries. Site and newsletter became a blog in the early 2000s. Nowadays, you can subscribe in the box to the right to receive articles in your in-box as they're posted – or look for toots on Mastodon or posts on our Facebook page, LinkedIn and Medium.com. She welcomes your comments, follows and shares!

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