Nothing complicated about this: Read ‘It’s Complicated’!
Why is the title of social media researcher danah boyd’s new book “It’s Complicated“? Not just because “the social lives of networked teens” are complicated (the book’s subtitle), but growing up in a...
View ArticleChallenging ‘Internet safety’ as a subject to be taught
“Way back” in 2008 – at least a decade after “online safety” was starting to be seen as a subject that needed to be taught to children – I suggested that it was becoming obsolete. Now what I’m seeing...
View ArticleFlawed early laws of our new media environment
Before any more laws aimed at protecting young people’s online privacy get passed, I wish lawmakers could spend more time with kids using social media – kids of both sexes and various ages, at least...
View ArticleWhat’s (importantly) different about Snapchat
It’s not what you might think – or what you might’ve read in the news. What makes Snapchat stand out in the crowd of social media apps, in fact what makes it “matter,” as social media researcher danah...
View ArticleOur kids’ privacy & a White House report on ‘big data’
Referring to a new report from the White House that she contributed to, social media scholar danah boyd points out how impossibly simplistic it is to view “big data” as either all good or all bad. I’m...
View ArticleFor our kids & ourselves: Presence in a digital age
Presence has never been harder or more needed – in this age of hyper transparency, connection, opinion and information, all in a media environment that’s networked, so that “speed of delivery” is a...
View ArticleFrom public shaming to public compassion
The public discussion about “online reputation” has gotten darker, as “public shaming” appears in more and more headlines. We may think it’s tough to be a celebrity, having everything one does – good,...
View ArticleFor kids’ sake, don’t ‘black box’ social media
For our children’s sake, it’s more important than ever that we not “black box” our media, whether as researchers or as parents and educators. An essay from psychologist and media professor Sonia...
View ArticleSocial media literacy 101 (for adults)
“I can’t even” possibly know what I’m seeing in teens’ tweets, texts and posts. Not until I ask them. The very fact that I continued that sentence past the close quote demonstrates that. What do I...
View Article6 takeaways from 20 years of Net safety: Part 1
I usually write about other people’s work – especially that of the researchers I’ve followed through the years. But now that I’ve just passed the 20-year mark in writing about youth and digital media...
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