Digital Smarts Blog

United Kingdom IT solutions company Logicalis recently conducted a study of kids ages 13 to 17 and found that this age group is “instinctively digital”, fully comprehending the value of their personal information. Even more revealing was that not only is this age group completely comfortable with how much their personally identifiable information (PII) was worth, but 42% would be quite happy to sell it.

United Kingdom IT solutions company Logicalis recently conducted a study of kids ages 13 to 17 and found that this age group is “instinctively digital”, fully comprehending the value of their personal information. Even more revealing was that not only is this age group completely comfortable with how much their personally identifiable information (PII) was worth, but 42% would be quite happy to sell it.

Research firm Piper Jaffray has polled 6,500 teens in the U.S. about social networks and has found the messaging app Snapchat to be the preferred social network for teens. 28% of those queried claimed SnapChat is the most important social network, followed closed by photo sharing app Instagram at 27%. Twitter was third on the list at 18%, followed by Facebook at 17%. Tumblr was a distant fifth at 2%. Apple also remains a hot tech brand among teens. The survey found 69% of teens already own an iPhone, while 75% say the iPhone will be their next smartphone purchase. Interest in the Apple Watch is far lower, with 10% of teens saying they plan to buy one.

Research firm Piper Jaffray has polled 6,500 teens in the U.S. about social networks and has found the messaging app Snapchat to be the preferred social network for teens. 28% of those queried claimed SnapChat is the most important social network, followed closed by photo sharing app Instagram at 27%. Twitter was third on the list at 18%, followed by Facebook at 17%. Tumblr was a distant fifth at 2%. Apple also remains a hot tech brand among teens. The survey found 69% of teens already own an iPhone, while 75% say the iPhone will be their next smartphone purchase. Interest in the Apple Watch is far lower, with 10% of teens saying they plan to buy one.

While bullying should never be acceptable, some schools are replacing their zero tolerance policies with a restorative justice approach. Research has shown that zero tolerance policies can worsen school climates, provoke more student misbehavior, and lead to higher expulsion and suspension rates for minorities. The underlying concept to the restorative justice approach is to treat bullying like a hurtful act that violates shared values, rather than as a character defect, and to encourage kids to understand why their behavior was wrong, and to apologize and make amends. If your school or district is struggling with bullying and trying to form or reform their bullying or cyberbullying policy, the article How to Develop a School Culture That Helps Curb Bullying on the Mindshift site could be helpful.

While bullying should never be acceptable, some schools are replacing their zero tolerance policies with a restorative justice approach. Research has shown that zero tolerance policies can worsen school climates, provoke more student misbehavior, and lead to higher expulsion and suspension rates for minorities. The underlying concept to the restorative justice approach is to treat bullying like a hurtful act that violates shared values, rather than as a character defect, and to encourage kids to understand why their behavior was wrong, and to apologize and make amends. If your school or district is struggling with bullying and trying to form or reform their bullying or cyberbullying policy, the article How to Develop a School Culture That Helps Curb Bullying on the Mindshift site could be helpful.

Confused by education jargon such as “hybrid education,” “data driven,” and “personalization,” especially when it comes to technology? Take a look at A Simple Cure For Education's Jargonitis on the National Public Radio site.

Confused by education jargon such as “hybrid education,” “data driven,” and “personalization,” especially when it comes to technology? Take a look at A Simple Cure For Education's Jargonitis on the National Public Radio site.

NPR’s All Tech Considered recently featured a set of guidelines for helping special needs teens stay safe online. Most of the ideas are the same for any family who has teens, but Kortney Peagramm, a psychologist working to reduce cyberbullying in Chicago, stresses a few points that are particularly important. These include discussion, monitoring and educating parents about the apps and sites their teens are using, and watching the teens’ circle of friends for warning signs of bullies.

NPR’s All Tech Considered recently featured a set of guidelines for helping special needs teens stay safe online. Most of the ideas are the same for any family who has teens, but Kortney Peagramm, a psychologist working to reduce cyberbullying in Chicago, stresses a few points that are particularly important. These include discussion, monitoring and educating parents about the apps and sites their teens are using, and watching the teens’ circle of friends for warning signs of bullies.

Have you seen the ads with Alec Baldwin for the new Amazon Echo? The Amazon Echo is a wireless speaker and device that responds to voice commands to deliver weather and news, play music, access Wikipedia articles and even turn on lights. The device is an underground hit with people of all ages, but some parents have complained that the device is teaching children poor manners. The Echo is activated by the prompt command “Alexa,” without requiring the use of niceties such as “please” and ‘thank you.” Some feel that could interfere when teaching young children basic etiquette!  

Have you seen the ads with Alec Baldwin for the new Amazon Echo? The Amazon Echo is a wireless speaker and device that responds to voice commands to deliver weather and news, play music, access Wikipedia articles and even turn on lights. The device is an underground hit with people of all ages, but some parents have complained that the device is teaching children poor manners. The Echo is activated by the prompt command “Alexa,” without requiring the use of niceties such as “please” and ‘thank you.” Some feel that could interfere when teaching young children basic etiquette!  

"Once an insult is read, the damage is done" is the tagline of Reword, a new Google Chrome extension designed to combat cyberbullying. The tool identifies insulting words in online posts and messages, and then crosses them out with a red line. Developed in Australia by Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, and ad agency Leo Burnett Melbourne, Reword aims to address online abuse by preventing hateful messages before they're even posted. The tools will also be available soon on Firefox and Safari.

While certainly well intentioned, the most obvious impediment to the success of Reword is that internet users must choose to install the extension on their computer. While the installation process itself is relatively easy, it might not be as easy to get people who are writing hurtful things online to download the tool. Another tech-based effort to fight cyberbullying is the social-awareness emoji that's supposed to "get the invisible bystanders to speak up against mean things on the Web." Called the "I Am A Witness" campaign, the emoji is meant as a way to "give teens a way to say something when they don't know what to say." Unfortunately, neither of these campaigns seems to be catching on so far.

"Once an insult is read, the damage is done" is the tagline of Reword, a new Google Chrome extension designed to combat cyberbullying. The tool identifies insulting words in online posts and messages, and then crosses them out with a red line. Developed in Australia by Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, and ad agency Leo Burnett Melbourne, Reword aims to address online abuse by preventing hateful messages before they're even posted. The tools will also be available soon on Firefox and Safari.

While certainly well intentioned, the most obvious impediment to the success of Reword is that internet users must choose to install the extension on their computer. While the installation process itself is relatively easy, it might not be as easy to get people who are writing hurtful things online to download the tool. Another tech-based effort to fight cyberbullying is the social-awareness emoji that's supposed to "get the invisible bystanders to speak up against mean things on the Web." Called the "I Am A Witness" campaign, the emoji is meant as a way to "give teens a way to say something when they don't know what to say." Unfortunately, neither of these campaigns seems to be catching on so far.

If you don’t know what a “cook session” is, or are unfamiliar with chattoulette, you might want to bookmark the Common Sense Education Digital Glossary so you can quickly look up the kinds of terms teens use in their digital shorthand these days. So you know, a “cook session” is when one or more kids gang up against another kid on social media, and chatroulette is an online service that allows users to video chat and exchange messages with random users.

If you don’t know what a “cook session” is, or are unfamiliar with chattoulette, you might want to bookmark the Common Sense Education Digital Glossary so you can quickly look up the kinds of terms teens use in their digital shorthand these days. So you know, a “cook session” is when one or more kids gang up against another kid on social media, and chatroulette is an online service that allows users to video chat and exchange messages with random users.

There has been a lot of recent press about teens and pornography. The Internet has made explicit pictures and videos widely accessible to anyone, including your teen, and the numbers are growing. In 2001 there were approximately 70,000 porn websites, whereas today there are over 40 million. 25 percent of all internet searches are porn related and over a third of downloads are pornographic. So how do you address this with your teenager? Raychelle Lohmann writing in the Teen Angst blog on the Psychology Today web site has a variety of suggestions, including what you need to discuss with your teen and how not to overreact.

There has been a lot of recent press about teens and pornography. The Internet has made explicit pictures and videos widely accessible to anyone, including your teen, and the numbers are growing. In 2001 there were approximately 70,000 porn websites, whereas today there are over 40 million. 25 percent of all internet searches are porn related and over a third of downloads are pornographic. So how do you address this with your teenager? Raychelle Lohmann writing in the Teen Angst blog on the Psychology Today web site has a variety of suggestions, including what you need to discuss with your teen and how not to overreact.

The potential for a widespread cyberattack on the US by another country or a terrorist cell is a real fear for Adm. Michael Rogers, head of US Cyber Command. "Cyber is the one area where we have pure competitors who have the capabilities that we do," Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee recently. Rogers fears that the Islamic State could develop the ability to manipulate data that would allow them to inflict serious damage.

The potential for a widespread cyberattack on the US by another country or a terrorist cell is a real fear for Adm. Michael Rogers, head of US Cyber Command. "Cyber is the one area where we have pure competitors who have the capabilities that we do," Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee recently. Rogers fears that the Islamic State could develop the ability to manipulate data that would allow them to inflict serious damage.