Digital Media is important to everyone these days, but especially children and teens. My daughter goes online, but mostly to play games (like Horseland), google something, and the occasional school research. She is often too busy to really spend a great deal of time poking around online, but she has expressed interest in twittering and blogging. I think that these are both essential for her to learn to do, to keep up with the world, but I am afraid of her getting totally enmeshed in the online world.

I think that we as parents need to let our children become competent with digital media, but also set limits. One way that I am able to oversee what she is doing online, is that our family computer is out in the open where everyone can see what you are doing and if she is using my laptop, it is in the room with me. I was shocked this year when I found out that she had multiple friends (in the third grade!) that had laptops in their rooms. Here are some great tips to keeping your kids safe online.

I found this great you tube video (by the MacArthur Foundation) that has kids discuss how important digital media is to them. I found it funny how one girl was saying that her parents always ask her where her books are and she has to tell them that they are online.



“The MacArthur Foundation is exploring how technology is changing kids and learning, committing $50 million to this initiative. More information is at www.digitallearning.macfound.org ”

As I was clearing out my bookshelves the other day, I kept saying oh, I need to keep this book for my daughter, I used it when I was a kid. My mom kept having to remind me that she can find that online and not only read about that history, but to see videos about it as well. Technology is such a vital part of our lives today, that we need to embrace it. With new innovations, the world around us changes, we need to adapt or we will be left behind. I remember my late grandmother having a hard time understanding VCRs. My other grandmother now has a computer, but she is afraid to use it. I think that it is a shame that many older people are afraid of technology, because it could really open up a variety of doors for them. Eventually we will all need to be online to do a variety of tasks, so we should not only teach our children about technolgy, but help to keep adults in the loop as well.

I cannot quite remember the year, but I’m sure that I was under the age of 10, as I popped my Dirty Dancing VHS tape into the video player and spoke along with “Baby” (the main character) and sang every song. Although I still have that VHS tape in a box somewhere, I have not watched it for decades now. So, I jumped at the chance to TIVO the movie and watch it with my 9-year-old daughter. Imagine my surprise when I had to start fast-forwarding the recording through all of the overtly sexual scenes and abortion references. Luckily, I think this made the movie hard for her to follow and she quickly lost interest, declared the movie boring, and wandered away.

After this experience, I looked up what the ratings for children on this movie were and was surprised to see that Common Sense Media had rated it for a minimum age of 12-14. Common Sense is a great site that reviews movies, games, websites, books, tv, and music. I think that this is an important tool for parents to take advantage of. Instead of having to read the book or watch the movie first, you are able to get immediate ratings and information. They rate based on age appropriateness and also by various topics such as violence and scariness, consumerism, and sexy stuff.

When, I thought back to my cousins (probably as young as 6) and I watching this movie many times in a row, I'm surprised that our parents did not think twice about it. I was just not okay with my young daughter watching this movie in its entirety. I think that our kids are growing up too quickly these days. They are saturated with media from all angles and if I can shelter her a year or two more than I will do that. I do discuss all of the topics in Dirty Dancing with her, so although we have a dialogue about these adult situations, she is not watching them glorified in the movies.

So, for now we are looking to a list from The New York Times top 100 movies for children for some inspiration the next time we TIVO a movie from the past!

Well, here I am blogging-again. This time it's a project for my Media and Society Class, just one of the interesting classes that I am taking this summer. I enjoy this class because of the history. It is as fun to learn about how books came about in the past, as it is to discover how Twitter was born not so long ago. I have been sharing the history and information that I am learning with my daughter. She is 9 and eats this stuff up. She has enjoyed watching the majority of the videos with me and begs for me to read more of What Would Google Do? on the Kindle.

We have discussed many things, including the Internet, books, television, and newspapers. I love to learn about others and it is always great to hear how other people feel about such common topics, like books and television. I have to admit that I was shocked in the Media Forum (where we have discussions online) to read of people not interested in using a Kindle. I am in love with my Kindle! It is so light and easy to bring with me. It has increased the time I am able to read, whether it be waiting to pick up my daughter from camp, or standing in line at the store. Everyone is busy these days, so it seems like a no-brainer to have a small, easy-to-read portable device for reading books. I wish that I had though of it. Its hard to imagine what a Kindle will look like or work for you. I wish that our class met in person (it's online only), so that I could bring my Kindle in to let fellow students check it out. I think that once you try it, its easy to love. As David Pogue said in his You Tube video about Kindle 2.0, it's not a war between books and the Kindle, since they both have great and unique features. (On a side note, I was appaled by some of the video quality for Kindle reviews by some well-known technology businesses.)




I still love books, but I have too many and the kindle helps alleviate this problem. I am an avid reader, but I do not want to own or house every book that I want to read. This past week I sold back $86 worth of books to the local used store and donated a couple of boxes (that they were not interested in buying) to my local library. I picked up a new book at the store, borrowed a stack of library books, and bought a book for my Kindle.