digital parenting – Page 35 – Media! Tech! Parenting!

digital parenting, great sites for students, homework, Internet Public Library, parents and technology, research on the web, resources to read, teens and technology

Internet Public Library — Bookmark It!

Posted on October 9, 2010February 28, 2015 by Marti Weston

Parents and teachers are always on the hunt for a reliable Internet site that children can visit time after time and be certain of the quality and reliability of the content. The Internet Public Library (ipl2) fits the bill, a resource that is just as good for adults as it is for children. With a motto of “Information You Can Trust” the IPL2 is a searchable, subject-categorized directory of authoritative websites with links to online texts, newspapers, and other resources. Librarians review everything in the collection.

What to Check Out at the Internet Public Library Continue reading “Internet Public Library — Bookmark It!” →

digital citizenship, digital parenting, parent education, parents and technology

Help! What’s that Internet Term? M!T!P! Blog Excursion-10/5/10

Posted on October 5, 2010October 6, 2010 by Marti Weston

So you are online, and you see a term you do not understand — aggregator, for instance or secure socket layer (SSL). How about TRUSTe? No need to despair. Instead, when you discover an unfamiliar word go to GetNetWise and visit the Internet glossary.

Although your digital children whiz confidently around the virtual world (probably too confidently, from your perspective), it’s likely that they don’t know many of these terms either. Make it your business to learn about them and have fun demonstrating your knowledge.

The site also features a Tools for Families database to help parents search for filters, blockers, monitors and other tools to assist families craft home Internet environments. You can also check out the GetNetWise blog.

GetNetWise (learn more about the industry sponsors and supporters) is part of the Internet Education Organization.

acceptable use, cell phones, digital citizenship, digital parenting, parents and technology

Driving? Texting? Phoning?

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Marti Weston

Read a post from the Thrive blog at Children’s Hospital Boston. In R U Ready 2 Stop Txting, Lois Lee MD, MPH, links to statistics, discusses the new Massachusetts texting law that took effect September 30, 2010, and offers suggestions about digital era parenting.

Dr. Lee directly addresses parents about virtual connections while driving.

Most of us would never drink and drive in front of our kids, race other cars, or even start the engine without buckling up first. Why then would we set a bad example for our children by texting behind the wheel? Though they may deny it, we have a much greater influence over our teens’ behavior than they let on. If you practice safe driving, there’s a far better chance your teenager will as well. ‘Do as I say, not as I text’ isn’t just hypocritical, it’s dangerous.

acceptable use, cultural changes, digital citizenship, digital parenting, parents and technology

The Tragedy of Tyler Clementi

Posted on October 2, 2010March 20, 2019 by Marti Weston

No words console a family when a child dies, especially a loss caused by cruel and bigoted peers who don’t comprehend digital world distinctions between right and terribly wrong. A much-loved boy, a gifted musician, a young man who made others smile and relax with beautiful music — and whose sexual identity was no one’s business but his own, even in the confusing milieu of a freshman college dorm — is dead.

For the rest of us — parents, teachers, religious leaders, and other adults — much can be said. Tyler Clementi’s suicide dramatically illustrates, yet again, the youth disconnect between privacy as we knew it in the past and the increasingly few layers that protect us today. With no clear definition of privacy, children, adolescents, and even young adults perceive few behavior boundaries –those lines in the sand that delineate the ethical from the unethical, the fun from the vicious. How many more children do we have to lose?

Whatever can we do?

Continue reading “The Tragedy of Tyler Clementi” →

digital parenting, digital world reading habits, interesting research, parents and technology

Kids and Digital Reading

Posted on September 29, 2010February 27, 2015 by Marti Weston

scholastic report — Click this graphic to read the full report.

This week the Scholastic Corporation published a report describing the views of children and their families about reading, and it is worth taking the time to read.

Based on responses from 1045 children and their parents, the survey aimed to discover thoughts about digital activities and reading habits in today’s virtual world. The report is chock full of amazing graphs that depict the views and thoughts of young readers as well as parents’ responses to similar questions. Many of these graphs break the children’s answers by age group.

Today’s blog post reports on the first section of the report — Reading Books in the Digital Age. Tomorrow I’ll provide highlights from the other two sections.

Interesting Opinions from Kids

Kids report that reading books for fun has decreased while a digital media activities have increased.
39% of children reported that the information they find online is always correct (page 12).
25% of young respondents have read a book on a digital device (page 14).
57% of children want to read a book on a digital device (page 15).
39% of young respondents said that they might read more if they had greater access to eBooks (page 16).
66% percent of children said they will always want to read books printed on paper even if eBooks are available (page 18).

Key Observations from their Parents Continue reading “Kids and Digital Reading” →

digital parenting, generating content, parents and technology, research on the web, resources to read

Parents (and Teachers) Ask Why Wikipedia?

Posted on September 23, 2010February 28, 2015 by Marti Weston

“Why use Wikipedia?” adults often ask. What they are really asking is, “Should my kids use Wikipedia, and is it a real reference?” For adults who grew up in the age of multiple volumes of well-documented references, it’s hard to wrap our minds around Wikipedia — and even harder to use it.

Digital natives, however, consult Wikipedia all the time, and the number of users and the content is increasing. According to a 2006 review in School Library Journal, “The popular online encyclopedia, whose entries are written and edited by any user, may inspire trepidation, even fear, yet the behemoth is impossible to ignore.” So just who is writing for Wikipedia? A March 2010 MSNBC article Who Writes Wikipedia, describes a research project that aimed to develop profiles of writers who contribute content.

Continue reading “Parents (and Teachers) Ask Why Wikipedia?” →

digital parenting, online security, parents and technology, privacy

Back-to-School Digital Reading #5: Your Child’s Privacy

Posted on September 20, 2010September 20, 2010 by Marti Weston

Privacy is important for adults and children. Now an investigation has found that children who use well-known web sites are opening the door for small information-collecting programs called trackers to be installed on their computers.

In a September 17, 2010 article, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on its investigation into tracking technologies that are widely used by popular websites visited by children and adolescents. The article, On the Web Children Face Intensive Tracking, explains how investigators examined 50 popular children’s Internet sites to find out how much tracking occurs. They found that these sites install large numbers of tracking programs on personal computers without the knowledge of children and their parents.