This was a fun study to read, especially because it tells the stories of the tech and family lives of Gabriella Guzman and Sierra Ramirez (ages 8 and 7, respectively) in the Los Angeles area. Of the children author Lori Takeuchi of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center writes, "They were somewhat ordinary as far as their digital media use was concerned. None were budding moviemakers, prodigy programmers, or … [Read more...] about The complexities of raising kids in a digital age: Study
social media research
The teen sexting ‘trainwreck’ & state laws
US Rep. Anthony Weiner's very public personal disaster story has made sexting top-of-mind again, but there's good news in all this: More and more states are considering "relaxing penalties for teen sexting," as the Boston.com headline put it, because lawmakers throughout the US are now recognizing that "the problem of teen sexting didn’t exist when they enacted harsh punishments for child porn and … [Read more...] about The teen sexting ‘trainwreck’ & state laws
Kids’ & teens’ social networking in Europe
Last week a look at social networking U13s on Facebook in the US; this week, a fascinating, more in-depth look at Europe, thanks to the thorough, recently released pan-European research of EU Kids Online. Though there's a lot of variation country by country, European youth as a whole are just as avid a group of online social networkers as American kids and teens are, if not more so. Among … [Read more...] about Kids’ & teens’ social networking in Europe
Under-age on Facebook: New study
The Consumer Reports headline reads, "That Facebook friend might be 10 years old, and other troubling news," but – interestingly – fewer and fewer parents find it troubling. Most of today's headlines about under-13 social networkers are about the Consumer Reports survey, which found that 20 million, or about 13% of Facebook's 150 million active US users are under 18 and 7.5 million, or about 5%, … [Read more...] about Under-age on Facebook: New study
Social media in the classroom: +1 or -1?
Not entirely unlike using chalk and a blackboard, whether or not using Web 2.0 tools is a positive or a negative has a lot more to do with how a teacher views and uses them than with the tools themselves. Two college professors who do use social media as teaching tools "view new literacies as additive rather than an annihilation of traditional literacy practices," writes Prof. Todd Finley of East … [Read more...] about Social media in the classroom: +1 or -1?