Two years ago, the headline in the Washington Post about researcher Jean Twenge's work was, "Happiness levels are rising for teens, but not for people older than 30," and she was quoted as saying, "our current culture is giving teens what they need, but not mature adults what they need." I'm confused – because the headline in the latest Atlantic Monthly about Dr. Twenge's work suggests the … [Read more...] about The generation-destroying smartphone: Researchers push back
Howard Gardner
Calling our children narcissists on ‘a sociopathic scale’: Really!?
A column in The Guardian's Web site called "Comment Is Free" (I guess you get what you pay for) starts off with an anecdote that reads like the heart-stopping opening scene of a new Netflix crime drama. Nothing wrong with that; grab a few more readers, sell a few more newspapers. What's fatiguing is the writer using a tragic public murder to begin yet another commentary about today's narcissistic … [Read more...] about Calling our children narcissists on ‘a sociopathic scale’: Really!?
Literacy for a digital age: Transliteracy or what?
Digital literacy educator Diana Graber is crowdsourcing a media literacy curriculum for 8th-graders at Journey School in southern California. It's Year 3 of the school's CyberCivics program that Diana's building, she writes in the CyberWise blog. Reading her resource-rich post got me thinking about all I've learned about digital literacy, media literacy, and social literacy since I first heard … [Read more...] about Literacy for a digital age: Transliteracy or what?
New media monsters II: From digital people to ‘digital wisdom’
I'm using "digital people" as shorthand for "digital natives" and "digital immigrants," which together have become one of the "new media monsters" I wrote about, gosh, last April. This long overdue post is Part 2, because I want to be sure you know that even the person who coined "digital natives," Marc Prensky, himself has moved beyond this term that suggests children are alien life forms that … [Read more...] about New media monsters II: From digital people to ‘digital wisdom’
Digital risk, digital citizenship
It's becoming increasingly clear that - in a highly participatory environment such as the fixed and mobile social Web - risk and citizenship are directly related. Risk-prevention experts show how online community mitigates risk. Inner thoughts are expressed outwardly, and peers notice a friend in crisis and get help by any means possible. Online social networks are powerful tools for peer help and … [Read more...] about Digital risk, digital citizenship