Category: parents and technology

Posted in digital citizenship, digital parenting, parent education, parents and technology, social media, social networking

Grandparents Are on Social Networks!

Posted on by Marti Weston

According to a December 15, 2010 USA Today article, people over age 65 are the fastest growing group of social networking users. Seniors Surge on Social Networks, by Janis Lloyd, described Generations 2010 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a report that examines the variation in Internet and social networking experiences among various age groups.

For adult children whose parents are older seniors, the Pew report presents fascinating data. “While the youngest generations are still significantly more likely to use social network sites, the fastest growth has come from internet users 74 and older: social network site usage for this oldest cohort has quadrupled since 2008, from 4% to 16%.” This change occurred between 2008 and 2010. What a great way for digital native grandchildren to interact with their grandparents.

The USA Today article also points out that the U.S. Administration on Aging has released a guide to help older people learn about life online, from joining social networks to hooking up to Skype and exploring Google.

You might enjoy reading this blog posting from a few months ago when I wrote about discovering how my  mother, in her early 80’s, was using Facebook.

Posted in digital parenting, digital world reading habits, image evaluation, media literacy, parents and technology

Picture Books Help Digital Children Understand Images

Posted on by Marti Weston

Many years ago my early elementary school aged daughter met author Daniel Pinkwater in a bookstore. After listening to him read and getting his autograph, she offered him a suggestion about a picture in one of his books. My husband and I were shocked at first, but then we congratulated ourselves — our daughter was so experienced and comfortable with picture books that she felt right at home giving a suggestion to a noted author.

Visit Eric Carle’s Museum of Picture Book Art

Ensuring that picture books — lots of them — play a significant role in a child’s life is a required task for digital world parents, because all  children in the connected need the skills to evaluate the images — especially the digital pictures — that saturate their lives. The Google Answers site points out that an average American is exposed to huge numbers of commercial messages each day (note the wide range of estimates at this site). Unfortunately children probably encounter these messages as well, so they need sound media literacy skills that help them interpret what they see. Picture books help.

“There’s more to these books than meets the eye,” writes Appalachian State University Professor David Considine in a document, MEDIA MATTERS: Here’s How One College Professor Puts the ‘Me’ in Media. Dr. Considine describes how he wants to demonstrate that students can “…develop critical-viewing skills by using something they already work with – picture books…”  The process of reading picture books contributes mightily to the development of sound media literacy skills, building strong foundations that help children become astute image consumers.

Several recent articles have addressed picture books and young readers.

Continue reading “Picture Books Help Digital Children Understand Images” →

Posted in cell phones, digital citizenship, online safety, online security, parents and technology, privacy

Do You Think Monitoring Will Help With Online Safety?

Posted on by Marti Weston

If you think about using some type of product to monitor your child’s online activities and safety, the Mashable blog has just published information about four digital tools that may help you understand more about these types of products. Notice I use the word “may” because on the web nothing is for sure. The services, all with monthly payments, alert parents when something questionable is discovered, so they do more than simply monitor a home network.

The blog posting, written by Sarah Kessler and originally published by MyLife Scoop blog, refers to a Yahoo family survey finding that more than 70% of parents take at least some action to manage/monitor/limit their children’s online activities and presence. Check out what Kessler has to say about these four monthly subscription  services.

  1. SafetyWeb
  2. SocialShield
  3. AOL SafeSocial
  4. GoGoStat Parental Guidance.
Posted in cyber-bullying, digital citizenship, digital parenting, family conversations, parents and technology, setting technology limits

Keeping Track? Adolescents in the Digital Age

Posted on by Marti Weston

I’ve been keeping Dr. Gwen Schurgin-Okeeffe’s (AKA Dr. Gwenn) book close by for several months now. Cybersafe: Protecting and Empowering Kids in the Digital World of Texting, Gaming, and Social Media is chock-full of helpful information and advice, juxtaposing the need to empower as well as protect today’s children in the always-expanding virtual world where they live. I’ve read the entire book, and I highly recommend CyberSafe to a people who are planning school book fairs and searching for a book that addresses technology and parenting. For parents who are seeking a broad overview of digital age parenting, CyberSafe, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is the current best bet.

This week Dr. Schurgin’s book is juxtaposed in my mind with the December 5, 2010 New York Times article, As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up. The piece, by reporter Jan Hoffman, focuses on what parents are doing – and not doing – to make the digital world, and especially potential cyber-bullying, less treacherous for their children. My technology colleague, Bruce, sent me what he felt were the most important thoughts in the New York Times article. I’ve posted these quotes below. Continue reading “Keeping Track? Adolescents in the Digital Age” →

Posted in digital downloading, digital parenting, online security, online tracking, parents and technology, privacy

Getting Serious About Online Privacy

Posted on by Marti Weston

Your family’s privacy is significantly diminished by online activities, and a new government report is critical of the situation.

Yesterday’s New York Times (December 1, 2010) featured an article, F.T.C. Backs Plan to Honor Privacy of Online Users, reporting on recommendations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about collecting online information without permission. The article, written by reporters Edward Wyatt and Tanzina Vega, describes the FTC report Protecting Privacy in a Time of Rapid Change (122 pages of interesting reading) in some detail, but the gist of the recommendations, according to the Times writers, is “that companies adopt simpler, more transparent, and streamlined ways of presenting consumers with their options…” Take time to read the entire piece.

A few interesting points from FTC the report include: Continue reading “Getting Serious About Online Privacy” →

Posted in great sites for students, homework, parents and technology

Grammar is Fun? Grammar Girl Sure Is – Bookmark It!

Posted on by Marti Weston

Does someone in your house need an occasional grammar review? Do occasional questions about word use or punctuation come up as a family member writes important essays and reports? If so, check out Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. It’s amusing for kids and adults, too, but there’s a lot to learn along the way. We listen to these podcasts just for fun, and I know a family that downloads the “casts” to listen to on family car trips (okay, it’s my family).

Visit Grammar Girl’s Website

Grammar Girl posts regular podcasts — free and never more than a couple of minutes long — and they are chock-full of interesting information about usage, punctuation rules, and accepted practices. She uses humorous examples, not unlike the understated but clever examples found in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, a revered but unpretentious reference first published in 1918 and still widely used today.

Continue reading “Grammar is Fun? Grammar Girl Sure Is – Bookmark It!” →

Posted in healthy media images, media literacy, parent education, parents and technology, technology and health problems, teens and technology

Pediatricians’ Policy Statement on Media Education – September 2010

Posted on by Marti Weston
Listen to these docs!

The September 27, 2010 edition of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), includes an updated policy statement on media education. Full text is available, as the journal and its editors appear committed to providing easy access to articles on media and other topics that may be of interest to parents and educators.

The updated policy statement, written by media education advocate and lead author Victor Strasburger, M.D.,together with a veritable who’s who of like-minded pediatricians, addresses the health concern that arise when children are over-exposed to media. Easy-to-read and jammed-packed with information, the document provides an overview of physician concerns about the media literacy of their young patients. With 93 footnotes, the policy statement also connects readers with pertinent scientific research so that readers, if they choose, can search for research abstracts about media education and children’s health (check PubMed for the abstracts).

The policy statement addresses the following topics — all of considerable interest to families with children — and includes recommendation to pass on to parents: Continue reading “Pediatricians’ Policy Statement on Media Education – September 2010” →