Digital Citizenship

It is hard to imagine your child as a bully, but as bullying and cyberbullying rates continue to rise despite many attempts to prevent it, it is important to think about what you would do if you get the dreaded call from school or another parent that your child is involved in a bullying incident. Evidence shows there is a big difference between punishing your child for bullying (which usually doesn’t work) and coming up with an appropriate action once you figure out why your child was bullying in the first place. The best way to react, experts say, is to try to get the bully to take the perspective of the other child involved. If they trust you, they will answer questions like “How do you think he feels about coming to school tomorrow knowing he is going to see you again?'”

Many adults accept the idea that kids love technology. But just like adults, kids can find tech to be frustrating. Stress, distraction and the pressure of being connected and available at all times are just some of the difficulties that Devorah Heitner, founder of Raising Digital Natives, writes about in her article Kids Don’t Always Love Technology on the Edsurge site.

As schools discuss whether or not to continue teaching cursive handwriting, keyboard makers are debating what constitutes the most usable keyboard. The QWERTY keyboard is a century and a half old, originating from early typewriters, and some people are advocating for other layouts. Among them are Dvorak, which puts all vowels and the most-used consonants next to one another, and Colemak, which is more similar to QWERTY but eliminates the caps lock key among other small differences. The question now is whether or not the steep learning curve of these new layouts is justified.

A case report in the Pediatrics journal describes four boys ages 9 to 16 who developed retinal damage caused by laser pointers. The children experienced acute, dramatic symptoms including absent, blurry or distorted vision in the center of the visual field, and three of the children had likely irreversible vision loss. Part of the issue is that pointers are not always properly labeled and may be stronger than indicated on the packaging. Researchers hope these findings will prompt pediatricians, parents and teachers to warn kids of the health risks of laser pointer devices and limit or discourage their use among children.

In the rush of modern life, it is so easy to accidently trash a message you wanted to keep. Is there anything that can be done? Take a look at this list of steps to prevent that frustrating moment.

Did you know you can use your smartphone as an early warning system for emergency situations? Check out the recent article from the NY Times that explains how to enable your phone to automatically receive free extreme weather alerts, messages about local emergencies and alerts regarding missing children.  The Google Public Alerts system from the Google Crisis Response Team may also be useful for getting information before or during natural disasters. Another alert system that is available for desktop as well as mobile browsers is the Public Alerts map, which shows where emergencies are happening around the world and offers links to traffic, weather, evacuation resources and more.

Marvel Comics will feature science, technology, engineering, arts and math subjects on five upcoming covers to engage young readers in those fields. The covers will show well-known superheroes, including Spider-Man, Moon Girl, the Hulk, and a new female character in the Iron Man saga named Riri Williams, doing STEAM-related activities.

A recent study at Princeton University found computer software that uses algorithms to learn human language can also pick up on prejudices among words that even humans may fail to recognize. Researchers used nearly 1 trillion words taken from the internet and tested word association using machine-learning algorithms – those that are learned by example. They found that machines ended up mimicking many human biases after finding word connections to genders or traditional masculine and feminine traits.

Dr. Mary Aiken is the world's leading expert in forensic cyberpsychology - a discipline that combines psychology, criminology and technology to investigate the intersection between technology and human behavior. In her new book, The Cyber Effect: A Pioneering Cyberpsychologist Explains How Human Behaviour Changes Online, she covers everything from the impact of screens on the developing child to the explosion of teen sexting to the acceleration of compulsive and addictive online behaviors (gaming, shopping, pornography). The book is a must read for parents who want to understand the cyber effect on the future of their children.

A recent study finds that the closer teens are with each other, the more likely they are to cyberbully one another. The study, “Toxic Ties: Networks of Friendship, Dating, and Cyber Victimization,” suggests that cyberbullying is more likely to happen between current and former friends and dating partners, identifying competition as the cause. Diane Felmlee, lead author of the study, writes “Friends, or former friends, are particularly likely to find themselves in situations in which they are vying for the same school, club, and/or sport positions and social connections. In terms of dating partners, young people often have resentful and hurt feelings as a result of a breakup, and they may take out these feelings on a former partner via cyber aggression. They might also believe they can win back a previous boyfriend or girlfriend, or prevent that person from breaking up with them or dating someone else, by embarrassing or harassing him or her." While this somewhat common knowledge about how the world of high school works, it is a good reminder for parents that the term “friend” is often a very loose one in the teen world.