Tag: gadgets

Posted in digital devices and gadgets, digital parenting, electronic communication, parents and technology

Summer Camps and Technology

Posted on by Marti Weston

Have fun reading this Chicago Tribune article, Welcome to Camp Tur-Ni-Toff, describing the lengths that sleep-away camps are going to preserve “their bucolic bubbles.” It sounds like the luckiest camps are those that do not have cell reception in the area. NOTE: The reporter points out that parents have more difficulty with the gadget prohibitions than do the campers.

My favorite quote:

The essence of camp is to rise and fall on your own … not to call your parents because you’re homesick or having a bad day,

My second favorite quote:

Even letters home are done with actual stamps and paper … a first for many of our campers.

Read the entire article.

Posted in digital devices and gadgets, parent education, parents and technology, tech free time

4 Lessons for Parents in a Constantly Connected World

Posted on by Marti Weston

Every digital-age parent with a Blackberry or smartphone needs to read Four Lessons for Parents in a Constantly Connected World. This short article, by Mashable writer Soren Gordhamer, offers a few pointers for parents of digital kids. I’ve summarized each of the recommendations for below.

  • Learn about the games your child plays.
  • Put down digital gadgets and spend time with children (and not letting the gadgets interrupt the time).
  • Keep the gadgets our of the bedroom (for everyone).
  • Start sharing and collaborating on technology searches and projects (and resolve to learn more).

Two recent MediaTechParenting posts relate to this Mashable article.

Posted in digital parenting, healthy media images, media literacy, parents and technology, technology support

Location, Location, Location (Services, that is…)

Posted on by Marti Weston

A tech-savvy middle school parent sent me the link to the video at the end of this post. She added a comment: “This is scary. Should I let it upset me?” As of mid-April 2011, according to YouTube, the video has been viewed nearly 2.8 million times

There is nothing quite like the queasy feeling a parent gets when a media outlet airs a story with shrill content that aims to frighten and questions the safety of their children. In this case, the report included a solution at the end of the news segment, but by then many viewers were probably too upset to focus. YouTube makes it all so easy, and we can view the segment again and again and then pass it on to others. If each of us had more media literacy skill, we’d hit the stop button, move on to something else, and not even think about forwarding it to our friends.

Specifically, this video addresses two concepts: geotagging and location services on smartphones. Setting aside the anxiety about the information revealed by digital pictures, the video highlights a critical digital-age dilemma for parents: how to develop basic knowledge about the digital devices that they purchase for their children. Location service happens to be the current concern, but by the time the next round of must-have gadgets arrives on the scene, another issue will emerge. Knowledge is power.

Continue reading “Location, Location, Location (Services, that is…)” →

Posted in cell phones, interesting research, parents and technology, risky behavior

Technology and Sleep

Posted on by Marti Weston
Click to see one-page report profile.

Parents need to be vigilant about the amount of sleep their children get each night. In fact everyone in a family needs to be aware that pre-bedtime gadget habits may decrease the quality of nighttime sleep.

Technology gadgets, computers, television sets, even glowing alarm clocks and radios, are interrupting sleep patterns according to a Reuters article, Not Getting Enough Sleep? Turn off Technology. The article reports on the Sleep in America poll (full 76 page report), carried out by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). The poll surveyed 1,508 people, ages 13 – 64. Click on the image at the top left to see a one-page summary of sleep habits for all age groups.

Part of the problem is that people stare at very bright screens just before bed or go to bed with glowing screens surrounding them. Another issue is that people, including adolescents and teens, leave devices on at night while they are sleeping so phone calls and text messages often interrupt sleep. This is risky behavior for everyone, but especially for adolescents who need sleep to learn effectively and grow.

Findings for Students Age 13 – 18 Include Continue reading “Technology and Sleep” →

Posted in cultural changes, digital citizenship, digital devices and gadgets, family conversations, parents and technology

5 Tech-Free Times for Families

Posted on by Marti Weston

I am reading Sherry Turkle’s book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Ourselves. Turkle is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Last Friday she was Ira Flatow’s guest on the NPR’s Science Friday program. Professor Turkle explained how she interviewed more than 300 children and teens who described feeling immense frustration when their parents use technology gadgets at the same time they are supposed to be interacting with their kids.

The Alone Together author, quoted in a January 31, 2011 Washington Post article, AnyBody: Parents are Ignoring their Children for their BlackBerry, points out, “It’s now children who are complaining about their parents’ habits…” During the Science Friday interview Turkle identified five times when children want their parents to put away their phones, Blackberries, and other gadgets and to pay attention. They include: Continue reading “5 Tech-Free Times for Families” →

Posted in digital citizenship, gadget ownership, parents and technology

Generations and Their Gadgets – from Pew

Posted on by Marti Weston
Click for a larger copy.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project just published (Feb 3, 2011) Generations and Their Gadgets (overview). Researchers surveyed 3001 Americans in late 2010 and discovered a lot about how technology tools and gadgets are used. Click on the image on the right to get a larger image of the summary chart.

I often think about how members of my family use computers, laptops, cell phones. Our three generations are a microcosm of gadget world users. Are we average? Do we have more gadgets or fewer? I don’t know.

  • My mother (83) uses a Dell desktop and occasionally a Dell laptop. My dad (87) uses a Dell laptop and an iPad. They have a cell phone and a landline and are contemplating removing the landline. Mom e-mails a lot, Dad a little.
  • My husband and I have a desktop, a couple of laptops, an iPad, an iPhone, a Blackberry, and a basic cell phone. I text, he does not. We both e-mail a lot. We, too, are contemplating removing the landline.
  • My daughter and her husband have all of the above, but more of them, as well as iPods and two iPhones. They text most of the time and e-mail much less  Their house does not have a landline.

My Thoughts After Reading the Pew Report Continue reading “Generations and Their Gadgets – from Pew” →

Posted in cell phones, digital devices and gadgets, electronics show, parents and technology, technology changes

CES – Consumer Electronics Show

Posted on by Marti Weston

What’s a parent to do when an unrelenting parade of electronics gadgets and devices appears on the scene and especially on kids’ radars? How can we keep up, let alone be prepared and figure out a few things? To learn a bit, pay attention to the articles and blog posts coming out of the 2011 Consumer’s Electronic Show, occurring now and ending on January 9, 2010 — but the content will be timely for months. A good number of products, some on the cutting edges, debut at the show, though some are not available for purchase  right this minute, and more than a few others may not even be in production yet. Most of the items, however, will be at your local or online vendor quite soon.

For instance… Need a gadget to help you take better pictures because yours are always blurry or bothered by too much light? Check out the Kodak easy-share camera at left, due out soon, a product that is supposed to figure out how to take a good picture even when you have no idea how to do it.

Continue reading “CES – Consumer Electronics Show” →