There's an upside and a serious downside to monitoring students in social media, and the upside doesn't involve outsourcing (that was an understatement). You'll see what I'm talking about when you get to the downside down there, but let's start with where and how it would actually help.… In her thoughtful commentary, "What inner city kids know about social media, and why we should listen," … [Read more...] about Students in social media: There’s monitoring & then there’s monitoring
monitoring
State of privacy illustrated (by a tech-literate law student)
Its creator, 27-year-old Brendan O'Connor calls it "CreepyDOL" (because it is certainly creepy). You could also call it Personal PI, since anyone with a portable, very hide-able little device like this would hardly need to hire a private investigator. In fact, this spying device written up in the New York Times indicates not only that the private-eye business is on the wane, but also that we have … [Read more...] about State of privacy illustrated (by a tech-literate law student)
TMI for parents in social media – for now, anyway
A lot of unusually thoughtful points about parenting in our collective, global social media environment are made in this recent New York Times article: "Cyberparenting and the Risk of T.M.I." Pamela Paul writes that, for this generation of teens, it's not Big Brother so much as Big Mother and/or Big Father. "Yes, we know contemporary parents are hyperinvolved in their children’s lives," she … [Read more...] about TMI for parents in social media – for now, anyway
The trust factor in parenting online kids
A new study indicates that a lot of parents who monitor their kids online and on phones do so without their children knowing it. The study – "The Online Generation Gap," just released by the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) – found that 70% of parents check the text messages on their teens' phones, while only 30% of the teens are aware they do, and 84% of parents monitor their teens' Web use, … [Read more...] about The trust factor in parenting online kids
Instagram: Teens’ alternative to texting, FB?
Shades of social media researcher danah boyd's finding on teens' "social steganography" (hiding in plain sight): The Daily reports (about halfway into a 2-min. video) that, because so many parents are now monitoring their kids on Facebook and checking their texts, "an enormous amount of teenagers" are using Instagram to take random photos just so they can chat privately in the comments under them. … [Read more...] about Instagram: Teens’ alternative to texting, FB?