So, you want to become a parenting influencer

If you are a parent and you’ve been thinking of starting a blog, writing for parenting magazines, or becoming a social media influencer in the parent sphere, keep reading.

Filters, social media, our kids and ourselves

A few years ago, I mostly stopped using filters on my Instagram photos and stories. I had been using ones that weren’t intentionally changing the way I looked - or at least, I wasn’t trying too hard for that. I was selecting ones that bettered my lighting or made me look less tired.

Teens produce videos, share digital media literacy tips in Canada’s first Teen Fact-Checking Network

By Susana Mas, TFCN Manager 

The Teen Fact-Checking Network (TFCN) is an internationally renowned program that brings together teenagers to learn about digital media literacy with a focus on fact-checking skills.

Cyber Choices (Grades 3-5)

Cyber Choices is an interactive game designed to help students in grades 3 to 5 develop the skills and habits they need to make safe and responsible choices online. Cyber Choices lets students explore four different stories that cover key issues such as making good choices about their own and others’ personal information, dealing with cyberbullying (as both a target and a witness) and managing online conflict. 

Advertising is changing – how is it affecting us and our kids? 

Advertising has been constant for years even when it shows up in different media. But are people becoming more conscious of ads (especially with efforts to not target kids) or has the integration of ads into social media and influencer marketing made them harder to spot?

A parent’s take on Instagram’s new Teen Accounts 

Instagram just announced that they are introducing Teen Accounts - with security features built in, parental controls and more. They tell us it’s for parental peace of mind. Will these new features make it safer for kids? And will they help this parent with their peace of mind?

Raising Digitally Resilient Kids

The Raising Digitally Resilient Kids parent workshop outlines how parents and guardians can support children’s well-being and help them balance the risks and benefits of digital media. Based on insights from MediaSmarts’ research with youth, the workshop provides an overview of online risk categories and provides resources and essential strategies that participants can take to manage these risks.

Media Safety Tips: Tweens (10-13 years old)

Media risks

The risks that kids encounter in media fall into four categories:

Content risks, where kids are exposed to or engage with harmful content such as violence, hate, or sexualized media; 

Conduct risks that come from what kids do or how they interact with other users; 

Consumer risks related to money, advertising, and data collection; 

I’m overwhelmed online. Now what?

I probably could, and maybe should, write about all of the social media changes we are seeing. The troubling updates to Meta’s content moderation policies and the removal of their fact-checking program, the complicated TikTok ban in the US, all of it.

The Invisible Machine: Big Data and You

In this lesson, students examine a fictional social network profile to learn how online platforms collect data about their users. They then read an article that explains how platforms use this data and explores some of the issues this raises. Finally, they create a mind map of their own online data profile and reflect on how the data they post may be collected and used by others.