Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

PLAYBACK: News on Teens and Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Google+, And Schools That Don’t Allow Them

In this week’s PLAYBACK, blogging is better than diary writing in relieving stress, a new Parent’s Guide to Facebook, S. Craig Watkins on what kids miss out on when schools block social media, and more.

New Study Reveals Lower Numbers of Children and Teens Sexting

Despite concerns that sexting would soon become more prevalent than note passing among school-age children, it appears that sending sexual images by phone or computer occurs less than people think.

New Study Looks at Facebook and Unintended Effects of Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

A new study on why parents are helping their children get on Facebook before turning 13, the minimum age, notes that COPPA is not an effective solution to protecting children’s privacy and online safety.

A New Digital Literacy: Teaching Kids to “Self-Police” Online

Why learning to post content online in a civil and responsible way should be a core part of today’s digital citizenship curricula.

Parents’ Reaction to Cyberbullying Underscores the Need for Digital Citizenship Education

The New York Times looks at parental responses to online harassment. Experts remind that even in the online social world, talking with their children is still the most important thing.

New Attitudes Toward Online Safety for Kids

It wasn’t so long ago that adult fears about the internet focused on young children encountering inappropriate content and online predators. Today, writes Scott Traylor, founder of 360KID, there is more concern over “a child’s privacy, cyberbullying, and what constitutes appropriate behavior online.”

Responses to Cyberbullying and Solutions Beyond the Law

There’s nothing fundamentally different about bullying and harassment that occurs in digital spaces, notes Harvard law professor John Palfrey, a participant in a New York Times Room For Debate forum on cyberbullying. What is different, Palfrey writes, is that where kids interact has expanded to include online spaces such as Facebook as well as physical sites such as schools and malls.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Teens Say What They Mean to Reach Multiple Audiences

As more companies enter the fray to monitor teens’ words and activities online, teens are managing their privacy by engaging in age-old practices.

PLAYBACK: What’s Wrong With the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act

Plus: University of Kentucky combines composition course with social media training; kindergarten kids learn STEM skills while protecting the three little pigs; Global Kids is hiring; a case for students blogging; and meet Watson, the IBM super question answering machine.