Kids inevitably grow up to become adults. If adults are ill equipped to use the Internet safely, we’re going to suffer big-time in the world economy. Debate about who should be funding Internet safety education (hardware manufacturers, Congress, schools, the FBI, service providers) goes on and on. Some of the most aggressive education […]

If you’ve been watching Facebook over the years, you know that it’s not the same place it once was. First a haven for college kids with a .edu address, Facebook expanded its community in both directions. Upward to accommodate the working world (a Facebook network can be your place of business) and downward […]

Nintendo’s Wii is the Barak Obama of the video game world. Nintendo said if you give families a game that’s fun for the whole family they will come. Change will happen. And so we came and enjoyed as the Wii transcended age and gender barriers.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The web is churning out some really interesting playplaces for young children. Places that find ways to keep them safe and keep them creative. It’s a renaissance of the early days of CD ROMs when good content for kids was abundant; the only difference is that the CD […]

I’m laughing so hard that I’m crying. I got an unsolicited package in the mail yesterday. Inside was an illustrated children’s book. The title? Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House? Seriously, I thought this was a book about domestic servants (or maybe about my role in our house). […]

“And if you think computers are trouble,” I often say to parents, “wait until you see the new generation of cell phones.” Cell phones are tomorrow’s problem today because they really do put the Internet into kids’ pockets and make it their travel companion. Kids can take photos and post to the web, […]

In what can only be called a much more cerebral treatment of the world of kids online than ever before, PBS Frontline: Growing Up Online, which aired this week, invites us to explore the nuances of teen life online. In doing so it makes a clear case for every parent, teacher, and child to get […]

Surprise! Latest Pew Study Finds a Gender Divide in Digital Kids
Give a stick to a boy and he’ll fashion a gun. Give the same stick to a girl and she’s likely to fashion a magic wand. Hardwired genetic differences or culturally influenced? The best minds tell us that it’s probably a combination of […]

Here’s a column that I wrote a few years ago. In light of the new Pew Internet Life study that shows the differences between boys and girls in terms of use of social media, I thought I’d look back at how we’ve mentored and helped girls while we’ve let boys flounder. I […]

Are cheaply made toys more dangerous than expensive ones? As much as I’d like to say no, the answer is probably yes. After all, we don’t manufacture toys in China because we think they do a better job of creating safe toys. They do a better job of making them inexpensively. Producing cheap […]