Predictably, the media coverage of a new survey of parents on digital-age parenting focused mainly on their concerns about tech and the Net. We need to question that – question the value of repeatedly reporting about concerns if, as a society, we want parents to feel confident in helping their children navigate today's media. Here are some questions we might ask, for example: 1. UK psychologist … [Read more...] about Do surveys about parents’ concerns increase digital-parenting confidence?
online risk research
Net safety’s ‘3 alarmist assumptions’: Researcher
This is news, and not just for the Internet safety field. It's important for policymakers, parents, educators, researchers, healthcare providers and journalists to know about: In the Journal of Child Psychology, sociologist David Finkelhor, one of the US's most prominent experts on child victimization, challenges the "alarmism reflected by so much of the scholarly and journalistic literature" about … [Read more...] about Net safety’s ‘3 alarmist assumptions’: Researcher
Factors in good policymaking about youth & digital media
Informed citizens sometimes forget that the reason why negative, tragic or just plain-old bad news is news is because it's the exception to the rule. That's why it's newsworthy. And this is true whether we're hearing about airplane crashes or online bullying. Sometimes the news is unspeakably tragic, but it's still the exception, not the rule. It's not an event from which we can extrapolate what … [Read more...] about Factors in good policymaking about youth & digital media
‘Noodz,’ ‘selfies,’ ‘sexts,’ etc., Part 1: A spectrum of motivations
Despite what we see in news headlines, there is no single term that people who share nude photos use, according to Australian researcher and author Nina Funnell, who has interviewed some 4 dozen 16-to-25-year-olds about it. Especially not "sexting," she said in a talk I got to hear in Sydney this spring (their fall). Using the term tends to alienate young people, she said. And there are many more … [Read more...] about ‘Noodz,’ ‘selfies,’ ‘sexts,’ etc., Part 1: A spectrum of motivations
Tech parenting smarts from teens: Australian study
Perfect for making Safer Internet Day 2013 smarter is a new study from Australia about how Net safety works best: open communication and growing competency on the part of parents every bit as much as kids. That's really boiling down an insightful study from the "Living Labs" at University of Western Sydney that paired up teens and peers' parents in front of computer screens to gain insights into … [Read more...] about Tech parenting smarts from teens: Australian study