We're excited to share this post from the man who brought text messaging to the U.S. He's got some great advice for you... and it involves elves! In American folklore, a Christmas elf is a diminutive creature that lives with Santa Claus in the North Pole and acts as his helper. Santa's elves are often said to make the toys in Santa's workshop and take care of his reindeer, among other tasks. I have been working with great people, and maybe some elf’s too, in the media literac

We love the term "social media exceptionalism." Read all about it... from our friends at Social Assurity. Headlines attract eyeballs and eyeballs pay bills. Headlines preying on our fears and anxieties attract the most eyeballs. As parents, we fear the much written about dangers of social media: sexting, on-line predators, cyber bullying, sleep deprivation, privacy and depression. Our conversations with our children about social media have been framed by these negatives a

We’re big fans of Cyberwise’s tagline ”No Grownup Left Behind.” We want to see all parents up to speed when it comes to what their kids and teens are doing online, and what kind of guidance best assures safe and responsible online activity. With that in mind, our digital wish is for parents of kids who are coming of social media age is: “No parents who just say no”. “What’s that?” you say. Let me explain. The average American teen gets her first cell phone by the age of 12, a

It sometimes feels like we rapidly toggle between two extremes in how we view social media. Depending on the day, it seems to either be that: social media will usher in a new age of cross-cultural understanding and explosion of creativity OR social media has devolved into a cesspool of kneejerk reactions, trite zingers, and ugly mudslinging. It is easy to think that the trolls have overtaken the castle. As we know, social media is all of the above--a mixture of the wonderfu

So excited to share a wish from these Cyber Civics teachers at Central York Middle School, PA, who not only teach kids how to use technology well, but also how to balance it with REAL life. Thank you for all you do! Our Digital Wish is for ALL students to lead a healthy, balanced digital life in order to be more connected with the people who matter the most! Throughout the Fall, I would see six to ten children playing soccer in a dry water retention area on my drive home fro

My #Digiwish for 2016 is for us to elevate the discussion of tech use from a limited scope of addressing problems, like cyberbullying and screen time, to a more holistic view of how to weave technology in to our lives in a positive way. Our focus as a community of parents, teachers and tech safety advocates should be on how to encourage good digital citizenship, defined by the recent DigCit Summit as “smart, savvy and ethical use of technology.” Cyberbullying: One Part of the

As a fourth grade teacher, I am passionate about inspiring kids to be the best they can be. Even though fourth graders are 9-10 years old, you may (or may not) be surprised to know that many of them are already active on social media and online in general. It seems that each year there are even more students in my class than the prior year who are already active online, despite restrictions via the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that are designed to prevent kids u

Are you Guilty of "Oversharenting"? Have you ever noticed on your social media accounts, like Facebook or Instagram, there are some people who post picture after picture and video after video of their kids? Maybe they do it to keep extended family in the loop of every little triumph. Or maybe the parent just needs extra validation through “likes” and they end up over sharing their children's accomplishments. I think its fair to assume that we all have those “friends” an

As the mother of two girls, I'm particularly excited about today's #digiwish from Michelle Cove of MEDIAGIRLS who wishes girls would "give media the makeover" by creating empowering content... Imagine if girls spent less time worrying about jiggly thighs and more time making content that made them feel stronger… My Digiwish it that we teach girls to stand up to the media's message that their worth is based on their looks and sex appeal. That's why I created MEDIAGIRLS, to lea