kids and privacy – Page 2 – Media! Tech! Parenting!

Some of these ideas come from researchers describing the results of various studies. Others come from presenters’ comments. My apologies for not connecting individuals with their comments.

I am drawing from my 30 pages of actual handwritten notes (handwritten because the seats were not a comfortable height for me to use my iPad).

In the Digital World

Six billion people have access to a cell phone in today’s world — more than have access to clean toilets.
The enemy of empowerment is fear and lack of expertise.
Be the change that you want to see in the world. (a Gandhi quote)
Children are using the Internet at younger and younger ages.
Surveillance does not create safety — only the illusion of safety.
Think less about digital citizenship. The Internet is a huge part of life and we are citizens on and offline.
Digital world communication often eliminates a person’s visual and aural signals setting the scene for misunderstanding.

Teens Continue reading “Soundbites From Day One of FOSI 2013, Conference Post #2” →

After recent news reports about the National Security Agency (NSA) and its data collecting, we adults are thinking much more about the lack of privacy in our lives. We need to remember, however, that including children and adolescents in the conversation is important if they are to become competent and confident digital citizens.

With our online profiles, social media accounts, mobile devices, and files saved to the cloud, almost no one doubts that we have less privacy; however, what is an ideological or big discussion issue for adults is far more complicated and abstract for children. For most adults the sentinel issue — how much data collection intrudes on a family’s or individual’s personal life — is a primary focus. The issue for children, on the other hand, is that without a basic understanding of privacy concepts they lack the information and the skills that they need to recognize and avoid potential problems.

Many years ago my parents designated important topics for dinner table conversations — broad subjects that we recycled again and again as the four of us shared family meals. When one or the other parent said, “We should talk about that at dinner,” my brother and I knew it was something that Mom and Dad wanted us to take seriously.

Today children and adolescents need to experience this same type of dinner table conversation to help them learn about privacy and develop strategies for maintaining as much of it as possible. Continue reading “Privacy Matters So Talk With Kids About It” →