What?! A little videogame play a day is actually good for children? That's what an Oxford University researcher found in a study of 5,000 UK 10-to-15-year-olds that looked into both the positive and negative impacts of videogaming. "Young people who spent less than an hour a day engaged in video games were better adjusted than those who did not play at all," the BBC reports, citing the study … [Read more...] about A bit of videogaming is good for kids: Study
Pediatrics
Important granularity on Net risk for teens: Study
An article in the medical journal Pediatrics this month makes significant additions to what we know about youth risk online in two areas: parenting and risk factors for older teen girls (the sample was girls 14-17). The authors of "Association of Maltreatment With High-Risk Internet Behaviors and Offline Encounters" pointed to what we already know: that "95% of American adolescents have Internet … [Read more...] about Important granularity on Net risk for teens: Study
Another high-profile sexting study: Takeaways for parents
Let's just cut right to the takeaway for parents, then some background. The takeaway, which is right in the headline of TheAtlantic.com's intelligent coverage of new data on sexting published in the journal Pediatrics: We need to talk with our kids about sexting, but I would add: that might be in the context of their developing sexuality, of the family's values, of appropriate use of digital … [Read more...] about Another high-profile sexting study: Takeaways for parents
‘Facebook depression’ claim is research-challenged
The good news is, there's a lot of good advice for pediatricians and parents in "Clinical Report: The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families," just published in the journal Pediatrics. The bad news is, the "Facebook depression" part is not grounded in the very research the report cites – and of course that's the part (on p. 802 of the PDF version of the report) that all the … [Read more...] about ‘Facebook depression’ claim is research-challenged
Pediatricians’ role in dealing with bullying
Perri Klass, M.D., thoughtfully tells a story on herself about how her thinking about both victims and bullies has changed - and how differently she'd approach them as a pediatrician, based on what we now know from the research. In her commentary in the New York Times, she also reports a key development in pediatrics: "Next month, the American Academy of Pediatrics will publish the new version of … [Read more...] about Pediatricians’ role in dealing with bullying