No, I was not surprised to read that kids figure out how to how to get around the Apple iPhone parental controls. The Washington Post published an October 15, 2019 article that tells all about it, and in my experience, the kids’ actions are not limited to Apple parental controls.
Continue reading “No Surprise that Kids Figure Out Parental Controls”
After nine years of blogging at MediaTechParenting, I’ve written posts about kids, technology, parenting, screen time, citizenship, 21st Century life, digital devices — well you get the idea. Now a New York Times Smarter Living published report summarizes a good deal of what I’ve been writing about in a parents’ guide to raising and guiding kids in the digital world.
How (and When) to Limit Kids’ Tech Use by Melanie Pinola (@MelaniePinola) includes just about everything a digital age parent needs to know. The comprehensive and well-packaged guide overflows with information. Keep it nearby, whether your child is a new baby, a teenager, or any age in between.
Pinola breaks her digital parenting guide into three parts: Continue reading “Learn Lots More from the New York Times About Addressing Kids’ Tech Use”
Why You Should Lie When Setting Up Password Security Questions, over at the Techlicious site, makes me seriously consider whether the use of security questions — and the answers that we provide — should be re-evaluated. The 2018 article emphasizes the lack of security and privacy in our lives, and it notes that by giving responses that describe our personal lives we provide virtual keys that can open doors to potential identity theft problems.
Like a lot of people in the educational technology field, I spent a good deal of time helping 21st Century children understand the importance of not lying, especially about their ages. I encouraged them not to engage in anonymous activities, and I counseled them to avoid sharing made-up information, gossip or innuendo via social media. Continue reading “Should You Make Up Answers to Security Questions?”
Questions to Consider Continue reading “Video from The Atlantic Addresses Sharenting Issues”
When my brother and I were growing up in the Midwest, my dad had a big sign — about one foot by two feet — with one word. MODERATION. The sign sat for years, somewhat incongruously, in our living room, so it was impossible to miss when we were watching television, reading, doing our homework, playing games, or entering and leaving the house. It was also perfectly placed for the times when my parents’ college students came over to the house for extra study help.
Dad’s goal was for us to think, as often as possible, about self-regulating and managing our daily activities, whether we were engaged in a favorite or a not-so-favorite endeavor.
In today’s hyper-connected world, understanding the importance of moderation is a critical skill. We all — adults and children — live fast-paced 21st-Century lives that center on the media and our digital devices. Thus everyone needs to know how to hit the pause button, disengage, and refocus attention elsewhere.
Common Sense Media has, for years, posted this excellent image-sharing resource, and it’s as timely today as it was when it was first published. The infographic posits a series of questions for 21st Century middle and high school kids to consider before deciding to share a photo on a digital device.
The questions probably take less than a minute to think about — time well spent if a digital child identifies certain potential consequences and decides not to share an image. Continue reading “To Share or Not to Share a Photo?”
Children, at least some of them, may be getting tired of social lives dominated by social media.
An October 5, 2017, article in The Guardian, Growing Social Media Backlash Among Young People, Survey Shows, describes the results of a United Kingdom study about social networking. After surveying 5,000 students, researchers found that nearly 63 percent of young respondents are “…disillusioned with the negative aspects of the technology, such as online abuse and fake news.” This makes me wonder how children in other countries might respond to the same question. Continue reading “Some Kids May Wish That Social Media Had Never Been Invented…”
Media! Tech! Parenting! 
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