mobile media devices – Media! Tech! Parenting!

brain, cell phones, mobile media devices, mobile phones, parents and technology

Digital Device Time Off

Posted on February 27, 2019March 4, 2019 by Marti Weston

apple applications apps cell phone — Photo by Tracy Le Blanc on Pexels.com

How much time do you spend on your phone? How much of that is necessary and how much is diversion? Do you pick up your phone when you suddenly have nothing to do? How about at a meal? Do you use your phone at the dinner table when conversation is supposed to be going on? How about in restaurants? These are all questions that I frequently ask myself.

New York Times tech reporter Kevin Roose addresses some of these questions in his article Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain. Of course, information about taking time off from digital devices is everywhere these days, usually focusing on privacy concerns and the habits that we develop using our mobile phones. But this article is different. Continue reading “Digital Device Time Off” →

acceptable use, digital citizenship, family life, mobile media devices, parents and technology, parents as mentors

Let’s Also Think About Grown-up’s Screen Time

Posted on October 25, 2016March 17, 2019 by Marti Weston

With so much conversation about screen time for kids of all ages, it’s also useful to think and talk about adults’ screen time. Adults model, but not always well, screen time habits for the young people in their families. When asked, most 21st Century children can share all sorts of stories about how much time their parents spend on their devices, even at inappropriate or inopportune times.

In his New York Magazine article, I Used to Be a Human Being, writer and contemporary thinker Andrew Sullivan contemplates the overwhelming “full immersion” that he and many adults experience with the online world.

Continue reading “Let’s Also Think About Grown-up’s Screen Time” →

21st Century parenting, mobile media devices, parents and technology, risky behavior, sexting

Sexting Information for Concerned Parents from FOSI

Posted on January 5, 2015March 18, 2019 by Marti Weston

Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 8.27.02 PM — Click here to get the FOSI brief.

If you worry about sexting, your child, and even the friends of your children, take a few minutes to read a Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) digital parenting brief, Sexting: Felony or Flirting? This article fills in a lot of blanks for concerned parents who observe adolescents treating the sexting issues with almost casual regard.

The piece, by FOSI International Policy Manager, Emma Morris, offers broad information and excellent advice for the parents of digital kids, including overviews of recent news stories, research, and court cases.

Best Quote Continue reading “Sexting Information for Concerned Parents from FOSI” →

21st Century parenting, digital devices, gadget ownership, mobile media devices, parents and technology, too much media?

Children’s Media Use in America – 2013 Report

Posted on October 28, 2013March 18, 2019 by Marti Weston

Common Sense Media 2013 report finding — Check out the other survey findings.

Common Sense Media has published a 2013 report on young children and their access and use of mobile media devices, Zero to Eight, Children’s Media Use in America 2013. The new research study aims to get a reading on how media use has changed since the organization completed and published its 2011 media and children study. Common Sense Media plans to redo this research biennially and publish the collected data.

The 2013 results are based on a nationally representative survey of parents with children under eight years of age. Researchers surveyed 1,463 parents utilizing the same methodology that was used in the 2011 survey and making sure that African-American and Latino representation was large enough to ensure statistically valid conclusions. To further ensure the reliability of the data, investigators provided devices and Internet access to survey participants when necessary.

Several of the Most Interesting 2013 Findings

The survey data indicate that almost twice as many children, eight years and younger now use mobile media when compared to the 2011 Common Sense Media results.
Television, DVD, and video game use on traditional screens is decreasing, but television still dominates.
Although access to mobile media for poor and underserved children has increased since the 2011 survey, a digital divide still exists.

Continue reading “Children’s Media Use in America – 2013 Report” →