March 2019 – Page 2 – Media! Tech! Parenting!

21st Century Learning, American history, citizenship, curated resources, digital citizenship, digital learning, First Amendment, informed citizens, NewseumEd, web resources

All About the First Amendment at NewseumEd

Posted on March 10, 2019March 17, 2019 by Marti Weston

These days I hear many people talking about the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, but as they talk I often wonder how much they really understand about the document? Can they describe the five freedoms and how those freedoms affect people’s lives in the United States? Children and adults probably need to learn lots more.

An excellent NewseumEd activity, designed for students in grades three through eight, introduces the First Amendment using materials, discussion, and scenario examinations that explore how the First Amendment works in real-life situations. Similar resources are available at the website for high school and college learners.

Below are some interesting facts from the activity, although students will discover much more. Continue reading “All About the First Amendment at NewseumEd” →

21st Century Learning, digital life, evaluating web site resources, media literacy, misinformation, vaccines

Ethan Lindenberger’s Senate Testimony: It’s About Evidence & Source Evaluation

Posted on March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 by Marti Weston

Ethan Lindenberger grew up in an anti-vaccine (anti-vax) family, surrounded by misinformation, but at age 18 he decided to get his vaccinations despite his parents’ protests. He testified before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on March 5, 2019, describing how anti-vax misinformation affected his life.

Ethan explained that as he grew older and learned to evaluate information, he began to understand and look for evidence-based information. He also told the Senators how social media had helped spread anti-vax materials. Continue reading “Ethan Lindenberger’s Senate Testimony: It’s About Evidence & Source Evaluation” →

21st Century life, 21st Century parenting, 21st Century teaching, digital citizenship, digital citizenship case study, evaluating news, hoax, parents and technology

Oh No! It’s MOMO! … Psssst — It’s a Hoax

Posted on March 6, 2019March 17, 2019 by Marti Weston

Well my title says it all. I read, quite by accident, a crazy MoMo post by someone named Wanda —a scary, urgent, bang-on-the-drum essay. Then there was the video… I am pleased to say that my hoax antenna is pretty well-tuned, and my reaction was, “Here we go again.” In truth I also realized that something similar had been around the digital world a few times before. But since then I’ve watched it travel, once again all over the world.

Both the New York Times and the Atlantic have published articles about the MoMo hoax. They are worth reading and sharing, so check them out.

I am stunned that guidance counselors, police departments, sheriffs, and all sorts of other community leaders, even a few national leaders (ummm, not to mention parents) did not do their media literacy evaluation homework before they responded, no freaked out. Continue reading “Oh No! It’s MOMO! … Psssst — It’s a Hoax” →

parents and technology

A Poem for About Mutual Digital Citizenship — for Kids and Parents

Posted on March 6, 2019March 6, 2019 by Marti Weston

Several years ago I uploaded a post, Advice from Digital Kids to Parents, including some of the thoughts that kids in grades 3-6 shared with me about adults’ digital activities. My students often commented that it was unfair when parents asked their kids to sign a digital life contract or agreement, because adults then proceeded to break many of the common sense rules.

The comments of my former students ring true today, especially when I see parents and kids together on a walk or at the park for a fair amount of time and parents look down most of the time at their phones.

Continue reading →

21st Century life, advertising, data collecting, digital life, online tracking, privacy

How I Try to Maintain Privacy (or at Least Some) in My Digital World

Posted on March 4, 2019March 9, 2019 by Marti Weston

Today a person’s personal information is a commodity, and privacy is a struggle to maintain. I want to stop (or at least slow down) Facebook, Google and all their advertisers (not to mention Cambridge Analytica) from vacuuming up my information.

Of course I’ve turned on the privacy controls on all my accounts and apps, and I recheck them on a regular basis, but that’s only one small part of the personal privacy picture. Below are 14 more steps that I take to ensure that at least some of my personal information is less available. Continue reading “How I Try to Maintain Privacy (or at Least Some) in My Digital World” →