Tag: digital parenting

Posted in 21st century job hunting, parents and technology

IBM Benefits from Young Adult Social Networking Skills

Posted on by Marti Weston
Read the entire article.

Perhaps the parents of digital kids don’t have to worry quite so much about the focus on

According to a San Jose Mercury News report, IBM is exploring ways to use social media to improve its business practices.  The company, working with San Jose State University graduate and undergraduate students, has identified potential ideas, related to social media, to connect and communicate.

The article, IBM Sees Students’ Facebook as More than a Waste of Time (yes, the headline could be grammatically tightened up),describes how the students, with so much experience using social media, are presenting all sorts of  ideas that can possibly transform the connections that employees make with one another and with customers.

Another example that demonstrates how multi-generational groups that include (and different perspectives) can come together to make good discoveries.

BONUS: This type of activity prepares students to understand and work in the adult world.

Posted in digital parenting, hearing loss, iPhones and iPads, parents and technology, technology and health problems

App Demonstrates How Hearing Can Be Impaired

Posted on by Marti Weston
Check out your hearing!

It’s a fact of life. We all spend lots of time attached to headphones.

Most of us know enough to take care with the volume, but are we really doing it? Moreover, what can we do to ensure that our kids are regulating the volume as they listen to music?  It doesn’t help that many pre-teens and adolescents don’t always listen to their parents.

Now a new app, Auto-Old My Music, may be able to communicate the dangers of extremely loud music better than we can. This app, available for iPhone and iPod, plays the music differently — it’s muffled and not particularly clear — just the way it might sound to a person who is hearing impaired.

Now that might successfully drive the point home.

The Auto-Old My Music app, designed by the Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, Tennessee, is a response to research, Change in Prevalence of Hearing Loss in U.S. Adolescents, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Read the full article in PDF format.

Articles to Check Out

You can also read my 2010 post, Teens and Hearing Loss.

Posted in cell phones, digital parenting, parents and technology

Want Sleep in Your Home? Get Charging Stations

Posted on by Marti Weston
Charging stations at Pottery Barn.

To make a positive difference in the quality of  your household’s sleep, consider purchasing one or two charging stations where family members’ phones and other devices can be charged at your house. Install charging stations away from the bedrooms of family members. A Google search for charging stations gets you started, or you can begin with this Mashable post, 10 Chic Charging Stations.

I recently discovered, in a small way, just how a cell phone screen can affect sleep. I received a new Solitaire game app, and I started playing two or three games on my iPhone just before bed several nights in a row. A few games grew into  20 or 30 minutes of play, but when I put down the phone, it took me a long time to settle down. The fourth night I did not play, and sleep came easily. Lesson learned.

I’ve added four pictures of charging stations that my family has checked out — some practical and others with a bit of whimsy. Many others are available. Continue reading “Want Sleep in Your Home? Get Charging Stations” →

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

You Can be Media Savvy with Your Kids in 2012!

Posted on by Marti Weston

Common Sense Media recently posted Six Ways to be a Media Savvy Parent in 2012. The December 2011 report suggests all sorts of ideas that can help parents (and other adults) develop stronger media (and media literacy) skills.

Suggestions include downloading a game to play with the kids, trying out a social media site, investigating YouTube, and much more. Some these can ideas will provide great fun for kids and parents over the holiday vacation.

Visit Common Sense Media and try out some of these features.

Thanks to my colleague and friend Renee Hawkins for spotting a good media post (one that I had missed). Renee blogs with another friend and colleague, Susan Davis, at The Flying Trapeze.

Posted in digital parenting, family conversations, media literacy, parents and technology, social media, social networking, teens and technology

Pew Report on Teen Behavior and Social Media Sites

Posted on by Marti Weston
Pew infographic. Click and view larger version of this image.

Take a few minutes to read at least the main points of the November 2011 report on teens and social networking, published in November 2011 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The executive summary is a fairly quick read.

During the spring and summer of 2011 researchers made calls to 799 teens between the ages of 12 and 17, and they also spoke with a parent or guardian of each adolescent. Interestingly, a large number of the teens surveyed reported that their parents and teachers provided them with the best and most helpful advice on digital citizenship issues and other virtual concerns. The media were the third most significant influence.

Browse all of the infographics from this Pew Internet report.

A Few Other Interesting Points

Continue reading “Pew Report on Teen Behavior and Social Media Sites” →

Posted in cell phones, digital devices and gadgets, electronic communication, gadget ownership, parents and technology

Why People Purchase SmartPhones for Themselves (and their Kids?)

Posted on by Marti Weston

The December 6, 2011 ComScore Data Mine features this interesting data chart that graphs the reasons that people purchase smartphones. The leading reason?
People appreciate the convenience of smartphone ownership. Is staying in instant communication with kids one of these conveniences?

The challenge for parents when they purchase these gadgets for kids?  Balancing appropriate use with convenience. Read the MediaTechParenting family mobile phone contract.

Check out graph and explanation at the ComScore site.

Posted in digital downloading, digital parenting, e-gifts, parents and technology

Celebrate Christmas? Check out this Digital Advent Calendar

Posted on by Marti Weston
Check out Jacquie Lawson e-cards!

My mother sent me an electronic Advent calendar from Jacquie Lawson E-cards and Greetings. It’s amazing. No, this calendar is not just amazing — it cute, whimsical, and downright fun. Also, it’s a simple and easy gift to give to a grandchild, a grandparent, or anyone in-between — and it’s easy to use. It may be necessary to join the e-card site, but it’s cheap relative to what we spend on cards and greetings.

Each morning, just like when I was a child, I dash to my computer or iPad, open the digital door, and start the day’s Advent/Christmas animation. My calendar depicts Victorian London, and so far I’ve decorated a tree, watched a London market stock up for Christmas, and explored a room inside Big Ben’s clock tower.

A couple of weeks ago the calendar arrived via an e-mail message with a download link and instructions. It works on my PC and my Mac (in fact, the day after installing it, I upgraded to a new Mac operating system, and the calendar continued to play without a hitch), and an advent calendar app is available on iTunes.

Continue reading “Celebrate Christmas? Check out this Digital Advent Calendar” →