Keeping track of a number of stories relating to ‘Raising Children in a Digital Age‘ in the news:
- Why kids’ screen time isn’t a matter of just saying no: I fall somewhere in the middle on the spectrum between thrilled and horrified about the amount of screen time the girls get on any given day – whether it’s learning about dolphins on YouTube, seeing pictures of their cousins on my phone or watching cartoons on the TV.And like me, I’m guessing most parents struggle with finding a balance in how much media their kids are exposed to, and have questions about the positive and negative side effects.
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Queen voices concern that children may desert books for technology: She shared her concerns with Joanne Harris, author of the best-selling novel Chocolat, as the writer received an MBE for services to literature at Buckingham Palace. Speaking after the ceremony, Harris explained that the Queen “asked me what I thought about ebooks and computer games and said that she feared that children were playing with those more than they were reading books”.
- Keeping kids safe online – what’s your plan?My children are 7 and 10 so they’re at that age where they’re old enough not to accidentally do the wrong thing, yet young enough not to deliberately go looking for trouble.
- How e-books can enhance the learning experience: Reading books electronically may be novel for us adults, but for our digital-native kids, e-books are a foregone conclusion. Nearly half of all kids between the age of 6 and 17 have read at least one, according to a report from Scholastic. And half of kids 9 to 17 say they’d read for fun more often if they had more access to them.
- LSE Report Calls for a Digital-Age Convention on the Rights of the Child: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and children’s charities need to rethink how digital technology and communications are affecting the rights of children around the world, according to a new report from LSE.
- Authors Write a Self-Help Picture Book for Children: Davis and Spencer’s created “Lord Computesalot, Ruler of Aurora Bullyalis and His Secret Quest to End Bullying,” illustrated with original art work by Spencer, to provide guidance on the importance of ending bullying.
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Scholastic Talks Children’s Publishing and Digital Content at Frankfurt Book Fair: One of the great paradoxes of digital publishing and children’s content is that children and teens were the demographics who were at one point the least likely to consume digital content. Whether over the original concerns from parents of expensive device damage and enhanced ebooks being likened to video games, or the young adults’ own feedback that reading was for paper, devices were for socialization, children’s publishing even now is awfully slow to catch up.
- New technology helps the severely disabled create sculptures just by moving their eyes: The work of Dr Mick Donegan, CEO of creative technology charity SpecialEffect and a 2012 TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards winner, has gone from strength to strength in the year since being honoured by TalkTalk in its annual Digital Heroes Awards.
- BBC ‘to form partnerships with tech companies’ to get kids coding”: The BBC has announced plans to form partnerships with industry to inspire children to use digital technology creatively and explore computer coding.
