Posted by Marti Weston on April 26, 2012
With more than 30 years as a teacher including over 20 in the educational technology field, I’ve heard many kids reflect thoughtfully, and not so thoughtfully, on their parents’ digital skills.
Here are the seven most common “I Wish” statements that I’ve heard expressed by children over the last 16 or 17 years. Two of them, I can report, my daughter also mentioned to me ages ago.
Kids wish their parents and other adult would: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in digital parenting, digital world conversations, parent child conversations, parent education, parents and technology | Tagged: digital kids, digital parenting, education, I wish my parents would, kids, parents, technology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on February 4, 2012
I have a big problem with online web surveys and quizzes aimed at kids. Many are tricky digital techniques using old-fashioned fun and emulating magazine quiz features of the past, but with a contemporary cyber-twist that encourages today’s web users — and many, many children — to happily divulge all sorts of personal information.
When you encounter a quiz or survey on a website, it’s a good time to chat with children about privacy and the methods that websites use to collect personal information. Remind them that no kid-friendly erasers are currently available to whisk things away once children provide information. To learn more about how websites and companies track the online activities of children read the Common Sense Media policy brief, Protecting Our Kids Privacy in a Digital World.
You may also want to visit the I Look Both Ways blog, where Linda Criddle has posted Online Quizzes and Surveys and the Real Risks These Represent. Linda’s post offers a comprehensive overview of the subject along with supplemental images.
Here’s a short excerpt — applicable for home and at school — from my November 2011 post at the Teaching Tolerance blog.
Posted in digital parenting, family conversations, parent education, parents and technology, privacy | Tagged: Common Sense Media, digital kids, digital parenting, online tracking, privacy, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, tracking kids | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on November 13, 2011
Do you sometimes wonder about the meaning of all those shortened words and acronyms that arrive in kids’ e-mails and text messages?
Check out the Texting Dictionary of Acronyms, published by C.G. Publishing in 2011. I purchased mine at a gift shop, but it’s available on the web. I’ve fun pulling it out of my purse or book bag when someone mentions one the the lesser known shortened words that often arrive in text messages of people under twenty-five years old.
And there’s even a family-friendly version.
Posted in digital parenting, parent education | Tagged: Dictionaries, digital kids, digital parenting, Text messaging, texting dictionary | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on September 6, 2011
Made at Wordle.com.
Over a year ago I started this blog, MediaTechParenting.net. My aim was and is to organize, connect, and share resources on media, technology, and digital parenting — information that I encounter every day.
Over the course of a school year I often chat with adults about their digital kids. Most parents are enthusiastic, perhaps even astounded about the digital changes that occur every day in their lives. Yet, they also admit to feeling confused, worried, and even a bit befuddled. Often I find parents reflecting on how committed parents — who understand the importance of these digital changes — are supposed to keep track of the constantly changing digital landscape?
As a 22 year veteran in the educational technology world, I like to sift through articles, seek out references and discover resources that can help people — especially the parents of my students — understand more about the digital world. I read articles, watch videos, listen to stories, and keep an eye out for interesting research. It makes sense to share them on a blog. When I think about a post, I ask the question, “If I were a parent of a digital kid, what might I want to learn about?”
Posted in cultural changes, digital learning, digital parenting, parent education, parents and technology, writing for the web | Tagged: #ksyb, #plp-pregame, Beloit, blogging, digital kids, digital parenting, Learning, MediaTechParenting, Mindset List, why blog? | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on August 3, 2011
It’s almost back-to-school season, I’ve just been asked for my opinion about home network filters, and I’ve answered the way I always do: protective software programs are fine, but limited.Posted in Back-to-school digital reading, digital parenting, online security, parent education, parents and technology | Tagged: Atlanta Constitution, Bill Husted, family conversations, filtering sofware, home networks | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on July 22, 2011
This graph, comparing various social networking sites, is posted at the ComScore Data Mine site. Watching all of these social media sites evolve is fascinating.
Digital age parents need to stay informed about the constantly changing landscape. More importantly, parents need to choose a social networking site, cautiously join in, and learn more about the digital “lay of the land” that their children and adolescents take for granted.
Notice that Linked-In is now number two, and that Tumblr, a blog site with similarities to Twitter, is growing fast. It will be interesting to see what happens with Google+ the next time ComScore mines the data. Watch for an upcoming MediaTechParenting post that provides lots of links to enable easy access reading about Google+.
Posted in digital citizenship, digital parenting, online security, parent education, service-learning, social media friends | Tagged: ComScore Data Mine, Linked-In, Social media, social networking, tumblr | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on July 3, 2011
I am just back from a huge technology conference in Philadelphia, the International Society for Technology in Education(ISTE), and I blogged from the event uploading nine or ten entries on a separate MediaTechParenting page. I also tweeted — sometimes using Twitter myself and at other times just watching, reading, and processing the tweets of others.
During the week — before, during, and after the conference — Twitter was my most important communication too. Over the four days it let me know where especially great workshops and presentations were occurring, helped me discover other people who shared my interest, kept me up-to-date about who was blogging, informed me about presenters who were sharing resources beyond their presentation rooms, and yes, even announced the location of the special snacks each afternoon. Without the #ISTE11 Twitter handle, and also the continuing back channel tweets on #edtech and #edchat, my week would have been slower, less interesting, and nowhere near as dynamic.
Posted in digital parenting, parent child conversations, parent education, parents and technology, social media, social networking | Tagged: digital life, International Society for Technology in Education, ISTE, social networkig, social networking, Twitter | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on May 30, 2011
Made with Wordle!
Day after day frightening stories bombard us with warnings about what might happen to children and teens when they use the Internet and World Wide Web, so it’s useful to remind ourselves that these digital resources can provide our children with unparalleled opportunities to learn, socialize, and become active citizens. An article, Our Overblown Paranoia About the Internet and Teens, recently published in the online publication, Salon, provides just such a reminder.
Pediatrician Rahul Parikh, who practices in the San Francisco Bay area, points out that, despite all of our anxiety about teens and Internet risks, no statistics really exist to offer a full picture of the incidence of exposure to risk. Those few that do are often biased because of a common problem for research, posing questions to get the desired answer. Situations that do occur are often covered by a hysterical media, making us feel like a problem happens over and over, just around the corner. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in cyber-bullying, digital citizenship, digital parenting, family conversations, online safety, parent child conversations, parent education, parents and technology, teens and technology | Tagged: adolescence, children, digital citizenship, digital parenting, exposure to risk, Internet, pediatricians, risks, teens, World Wide Web | Leave a Comment »
Removing Racist and Hateful Comments: A Simple Relevancy Test
Posted by Marti Weston on March 16, 2012
Click to hear Tyler's dad reading a statement after the jury returned its verdict.
After the jury announced its verdict in New Jersey I watched Associated Press video statement read by Tyler Clementi’s father. Sad and clearly with a heavy heart, he nevertheless looked to the future in a way that most of us could not have done had we lost a child the way he lost Tyler. Then I glanced down at the YouTube comments — just about every one included a gay slur or offensive language, and I was disgusted. The comments were not relevant.
Racist and hateful online comments demean writers, video-makers, and people who thoughtfully share digital content. It’s becoming tiresome. Masquerading as run-of-the-mill responses at the end of articles and videos – they are actually cyber-bullies’ remarks left here and there with the goal of offending and hurting others. The time has long past for comment and blog editors everywhere – but especially at Google’s YouTube — to set up and enforce guidelines.
I know that the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of speech; however, it’s not freedom of speech we are observing but freedom to run off at the mouth and bully others in ways that are not relevant to the content. As a result we are teaching all sorts of silent lessons — the kind we don’t really intend to teach to young people as they grow up.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 21st Century Learning, commenting, conversations on commenting, cyber-bullying, digital citizenship, digital parenting, family conversations, parent education, parents and technology | Tagged: comments, cyber-bullying, cyberbullying, digital kids, digital parenting, editors, freedom of speech, Google, hate speech, obscenity, ProJo, Tyler Clementi, websites, YouTube | 1 Comment »