Archive for the ‘media literacy’ Category
Posted by Marti Weston on May 13, 2012
Our digital society hasn’t figured out what to do about privacy. More importantly, it hasn’t figured what to do about the privacy of our kids — we keep confusing privacy with transparency.
It’s problematic enough that adults are diving willy-nilly into the digital world, sharing everything about themselves, private and not so private, but it’s even worse to observe a world where everything a child does and almost every mistake he or she makes is now public. These days we are giving children and adolescents no cover and no protection as they blithely explore the digital world while making what in any other era would be common and developmentally appropriate errors.
Lest I sound like a digital Luddite, I’m not. I love participating in the activities of my digital world, actively but moderately, and I have an arsenal of digital gadgets in my purse, book bag, and lying around my house. As an educator, however, I am keenly aware of how much we are forgetting to nurture and honor kids’ developmental stages as they grow up in this digitally dense world. Part of solving that problem involves ensuring that children have a guaranteed amount of privacy.
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Posted in digital footprints, digital parenting, marketing to kids, media literacy, parents and technology, privacy, teaching digital kids | Tagged: Common Sense Media, digital kids, digital parenting, James P Steyer, privacy, public policy, Talking Back to Facebook, The Atlantic, The Other Parent | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on February 26, 2012
The tenor of the political advertising in this election season is appalling, and it will get worse. Because no code of best practices exists when it comes to campaign advertising, the current presidential election cycle media will feature unending ads that stretch the truth or make up the facts outright and deliver them straight into the lives of kids. While it’s a fine opportunity to help citizens, young and old, strengthen their media literacy skills, television is over-exposing all of us to some unfortunate and distressing content.
Click to visit.
To Learn a lot more listen to recently broadcast Diane Rehm Show about the non-candidate SuperPACs that are spending enormous sums on political advertisements. Jane Mayer’s recent New Yorker article, Attack Dog, is another comprehensive article. Talking to children about what they are seeing on television is critical, especially during an election cycle.
In a February 26, 2012 piece published at the USA Today Teachers’ Lounge, media lit guru, Frank Baker pithily describes the situation. He writes:
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Posted in answers to media questions, digital citizenship, digital parenting, family conversations, media literacy, parent child conversations, parents and technology, teaching digital kids | Tagged: 2012, advertising, campaign advertising, digital kids, digital media, digital parenting, election, Frank Baker, media literacy, medialit, political advertisements | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on February 17, 2012
Today the medium is a lot less about a message and more about the toys!
Just about everyone — parents, teachers, grandparents, youth leaders — should read the New York Times article, Hasbro, Intent on Expanding Its Toy Brands, Is Playing All the Angles.
The days of interesting television shows with good story plots are fast disappearing because many of today’s shows are a composite of toys and programming about those toys.
Concerned parents and other adults may want to consider additional limits on television and carefully evaluate whether the end result of a toy or game purchase is simply more television watching.
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Posted in American Academy of Pediatrics, digital parenting, marketing to kids, media literacy, parents and technology | Tagged: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, digital kids, digital parenting, marketing to chidren, New York Time, television, toys and games | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on January 29, 2012
Question: What’s the last nation in the world to have television reception?
Answer: Bhutan, which used be an absolute monarchy and is now building democratic institutions as a constitutional monarchy.
Bhutan map from the CIA Factbook.
What a great bit of digital world trivia to begin a family media literacy conversation!
According to this press story from Ithaca College, the Kingdom of Bhutan invited representatives from the school’s media literacy initiative, Project Look Sharp, to work with the Ministry of Education and help train the country’s teachers to understand and use media literacy principles.
As Bhutan develops democratic institutions, encouraging citizens to assume the responsibilities of civic participation, the country’s leaders want to ensure that the strengths of traditional Buddhist life are not overwhelmed by the exposure to western media influences.
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Posted in digital parenting, family conversations, media literacy, parents and technology, teaching | Tagged: Bhutan, digital parenting, family conversations, Ithaca College, Media Awareness Network, media literacy, Project Look Sharp | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on December 22, 2011
Common Sense Media recently posted Six Ways to be a Media Savvy Parent in 2012. The December 2011 report suggests all sorts of ideas that can help parents (and other adults) develop stronger media (and media literacy) skills.
Suggestions include downloading a game to play with the kids, trying out a social media site, investigating YouTube, and much more. Some these can ideas will provide great fun for kids and parents over the holiday vacation.
Visit Common Sense Media and try out some of these features.
Thanks to my colleague and friend Renee Hawkins for spotting a good media post (one that I had missed). Renee blogs with another friend and colleague, Susan Davis, at The Flying Trapeze.
Posted in answers to media questions, digital parenting, media literacy, parents and technology, social media, social networking | Tagged: Common Sense Media, digital kids, digital parenting, Flying Trapeze blog, media literacy, social networking | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on December 10, 2011
Pew infographic. Click and view larger version of this image.
Take a few minutes to read at least the main points of the November 2011 report on teens and social networking, published in November 2011 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The executive summary is a fairly quick read.
During the spring and summer of 2011 researchers made calls to 799 teens between the ages of 12 and 17, and they also spoke with a parent or guardian of each adolescent. Interestingly, a large number of the teens surveyed reported that their parents and teachers provided them with the best and most helpful advice on digital citizenship issues and other virtual concerns. The media were the third most significant influence.
Browse all of the infographics from this Pew Internet report.
A Few Other Interesting Points
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Posted in digital parenting, family conversations, media literacy, parents and technology, social media, social networking, teens and technology | Tagged: digital parenting, Pew Internet, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Social media, social networking, teens | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on October 26, 2011
Zero to Eight: Children's Media Use in America, p 11
The New York Times has reported on a Common Sense Media (CSM) sponsored study, Zero to Eight, Children’s Media Use in America (PDF). The Times article, Screen Time Higher Than Ever for Children, describes the study and points out that kids are in front of a screen more than ever despite the recommendations of their doctors.
After reading this I am feeling a bit more pessimistic than usual. Adults are used to tossing health caution to the wind for themselves, but we were vigilant about protecting the health of our children. Now we seem to disregard the recommendations of pediatricians — the very people who can help us do the most possible to ensure that our kids grown into strong and productive adults. Are we as a society less and less concerned about the development of strong minds? Times reporter Tamar Lewin writes:
Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ longstanding recommendations to the contrary, children under 8 are spending more time than ever in front of screens…
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Posted in American Academy of Pediatrics, answers to media questions, digital devices and gadgets, media literacy, parents and technology | Tagged: American Academy of Pediatrics, Ari Brown, children, Common Sense Media, James Steyer, media, media literacy, screen time | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on October 18, 2011
Click to check out these American Academy of Pediatrics resources.
Read No TV for Children Under 2 Doctors’ Group Urges, in the October 18, 2011 New York Times. This isn’t a new recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), just a reminder of how seriously they believe in their media literacy recommendations.
I don’t mention this often, but 30 years ago when our television broke, we had a new baby and not enough money, so we decided to put off the purchase of a new TV. The delay went on for six years until our daughter was seven years old. Originally we did not make a decision out of any deep philosophical principles — and back then there was a lot less research about the effect of TV-watching on young children — we simply did not have money that we wanted to spend on a new set just then (or we had other things we wanted to purchase — I really don’t remember). However, gradually we forgot our plans to purchase a new television because we liked what happened in our family.
We read more, we listened to music more, we ate less junk food, and during the times we were at home, we played lots of games and went to the park almost every day after we returned from work. By age 2-and-a-half our daughter could beat both of us at any memory game we put out on the table. We also read aloud, all the time. In fact, we read so much that sometimes we needed to go to the public library twice a week. Listening to the radio, sometimes NPR and at other times classical or oldies was a regular activity, and we went to movies.
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Posted in American Academy of Pediatrics, digital parenting, media literacy, parents and technology, tech free time, television | Tagged: American Academy of Pediatrics, digital kids, digital parenting, media literacy, screen time, television, TV | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on September 19, 2011
Click to view this image, by Column Five Media, depicting survey results.
Via Milwaukee Journal Online, an interesting article, As Social Media Grow, So Does First Amendment Appreciation, describes research conducted by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The foundation has taken four surveys, beginning in 2001, to learn more about what high school students know and understand about the First Amendment of the Constitution. (Read the First Amendment here.) The Knight Foundation website explains that group got started with this work
… after surveys of American adults conducted by The Freedom Forum showed that even modern-day support for the First Amendment is neither universal nor stable. In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, support for the First Amendment plummeted. Suddenly, the nation was almost evenly split on the question of whether or not the First Amendment “goes too far in the rights it guarantees.’’ Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in digital citizenship, digital parenting, electronic communication, media literacy, parents and technology, social media, social networking | Tagged: Bill of Rights, Constitution, electronic news, First Amendment, high school students, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Social media, social networking, students | Leave a Comment »
