Category: digital parenting

Posted in digital parenting, Evaluating Web Resources, parents and technology, research on the web

Kids and Web Credibility

Posted on by Marti Weston
Click for PDF of the book.

If you worry about the digital research activities of children, especially older students who complete significant amounts of their research using the unlimited resources available on the World Wide Web, you are not alone. Over the past 10 years I have wondered — more than once and sometimes with great angst — if my child and the many children I’ve known over the years really understand the need to evaluate the resources that they find on the web.

Recently I discovered a small book, published by the MacArthur Foundation, describing research that explored how children perceive the quality and reliability of digital media. It’s a book that concerned parents may want to read. In Kids and Credibility: An Empirical Examination of Youth, Digital Media Use, and Information Credibility, authors Andrew J. Flanagin and Miriam J. Metzger, summarize their study as a “…comprehensive investigation into youth’s Internet use and their assessment of the credibility of online information.” The authors wondered whether young digital media users, while sophisticated and fearless about using technology, could evaluate information and determine its quality. Continue reading “Kids and Web Credibility” →

Posted in digital parenting, family conversations, parent child conversations, parents and technology, social networking

Mrs. Obama Said No Facebook???

Posted on by Marti Weston

Preteens are savvy media consumers, and among the kids I know there is significant buzz about Michelle Obama’s views on Facebook. “Pre-teenagerdom” is such a difficult and challenging time for parents and for the kids themselves. Many children want to hurry up and become teens and joining into social networking activities is one way to make them feel older and even wiser. Feeling and sometimes believing that your parents simply don’t understand technology is another way. So it’s a bit of a blow when the First Lady and First Mom — a person many of them admire — tells their parents to slow things down.

A Few Other Reports

Posted in digital parenting, parents and technology, privacy, social media, social networking, teens and technology

Facebook Privacy Settings: New Guide from Techlicious

Posted on by Marti Weston

Check out the Techlicious Facebook Privacy Guide, posted by Josh Kirschner on February 8, 2011 over at the Techlicious website.

Maintaining control over privacy settings is a required and critical technology task for each Facebook user. Since sharing information is one of Facebook’s primary missions, the company wants to collect and share as much personal information as possible with its advertisers. Facebook sets most new features to share data then when they first debut on the site, and to be fair, social networking is all about sharing information. Thus it is up to each individual to determine just how much information to put out there, making conscious decisions about what the world can see, what close friends can view, and what to keep private.

Our children and their friends are enthusiastic Facebook users, but they do not always focus on the need to pay attention, on a regular basis, to privacy settings. I’ve written many privacy posts on this blog including Getting Serious About Online Privacy and Keeping Track: Adolescents in the Digital Age, pieces that focus on the importance of maintaining family privacy when individual members engage in so many digital activities. Knowing the connection between many social networking sites and advertisers — and the impact it has on a user’s privacy — is critical for everyone, but especially for teens.

Continue reading “Facebook Privacy Settings: New Guide from Techlicious” →

Posted in answers to media questions, digital parenting, media literacy, parents and technology, television

How Much TV? Again

Posted on by Marti Weston
Visit this site for list of questions that parents can use to help children evaluate television advertisements.

Right now, around Superbowl weekend, lots of people write and debate about how much television is okay for young children to watch, and many parents wring their hands about manipulative advertising. This brings back memories.

I don’t talk about this often, but 29 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.

Continue reading “How Much TV? Again” →

Posted in Bookmark It!, digital parenting, great sites for students, parents and technology

Google Art Project – Bookmark It!

Posted on by Marti Weston

Check out the Google Art Project and explore art museums from around the world — some that you may have already visited and others that you hope to tour sometime in the future. I know that some museums here I may never get to visit, so it’s great to poke around. A parent and child or a grandparent and child can have lots of virtual fun exploring, viewing, and learning about actual pieces of art in each museum. Read the February 2, 2011 Washington Post article, Google Art Project: ‘Street View’ Technology Added to Museums, to learn more about some of the museums participating in Google Art Project.

The Chapel Where the Waverly Consort Performed

Just over a month ago I spent an amazing afternoon at The Cloisters Museum and Garden, a real medieval castle, imported from Spain, that is now a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. We spent time walking around, especially taking time to look at the Unicorn Tapestries. Then we went into one of the chapels to listen and watch the Waverly Consort perform a Medieval Christmas story. I love The Cloisters Museum, though, I can count my visits on one hand, since I’ve never lived close enough go more often.

So I was delighted a few days ago (February 1, 2011) when Google Art Project appeared, essentially opening a virtual door to a group of museums from around the world, including The Cloisters. This nifty new web site uses some of the same technology that helps people surf around to street views with maps and Google Earth. I chose the Metropolitan Museum from the list of museums, went right over to a visitor’s guide link on the top right of the page, and arrived within moments at The Cloisters. A few more clicks and there I was in the same austere, but beautiful chapel where I listened to the concert last month. Very cool.

Continue reading “Google Art Project – Bookmark It!” →

Posted in acceptable use, cell phones, digital devices and gadgets, digital parenting, parent child conversations, parents and technology

Parents and Electronic Devices: Taking Time Out?

Posted on by Marti Weston

We’ve all seen them. Perhaps people have seen one of us. The temptation to use a phone or smart device,  no matter where we are or what we are doing — even when we are with our kids — is way, way too strong.

I keep seeing children being pushed around by people (parents?) on telephones.  Sometimes children are playing along in yards or parks, not watched over because the parents are tapping or merely talking on their smart phones. The trouble is, this used to be quality time – enjoyable and relaxed interaction — pointing out dogs, discovering leaves, and learning new words for all sorts of things.

Read Anybody: Parents are Ignoring their Children for their Blackberry in the February 1. 2011 Washington Post. Here’s a short quote, but check out the whole article. Continue reading “Parents and Electronic Devices: Taking Time Out?” →

Posted in digital devices and gadgets, digital parenting, parents and technology, risky behavior, scams and fraud

Technology Scams: An Overview

Posted on by Marti Weston

In the digital era, parents need basic knowledge of online scams that have the potential to cause mayhem on a family’s digital devices

A quick and easy-to-read overview of potential online  scams, Social-Media Scams Abound but They Can be Avoided, appeared in the Washington Post on November 14, 2010.  The Kiplinger Personal Finance article, by Casey Mysliwy, goes over three types of malicious behaviors that can trip-up even the most savvy digital media users. If you missed this description of potential digital problems, take some time to read the article as well as share it with family members who computers, the web, or smart phones. The three potential scams are:

  1. Messages that involve money transfers and seek personal information;
  2. Applications that offer a quiz, game, or other method that encourage you to share personal details; and
  3. Shortened URL (web addresses) that hide a destination’s true identity because the address is simply a group of characters.

You can also check out 5 Social Media Scams at the Norton AntiVirus site and New Jersey Officials Warn Residents About Social Media Scams at the New Jersey Today website.