Getting your News from Social Media

An interesting thing happened the other day. My husband was talking about some recent political events in the United States, and my kids and I didn’t know what he was talking about.

The Environment Canada hoax: a news story that's full of hot air

If anyone still doubts that youth need to learn how to evaluate online information, those doubts should have been dispelled by a recent hoax perpetrated by the group called the Yes Men. This group, which has a history of staging fake press conferences, decided to draw attention to Canada's position at the Copenhagen conference on climate change by creating a number of fake Web sites purporting to be, among others, the Copenhagen summit site, the Wall Street Journal, and Environment Canada's site. While it didn't take long for Environment Canada to make a statement exposing the hoax, by that time many journalists had reported the story as fact and the story had been widely distributed by wire services.

Social media and screen time during a pandemic

We’re living in a strange and uncertain time. Already, as parents, we’re feeling our way to the right set of rules and guidelines for screens and social media. But now that we’re facing an extended time of quarantine and social distancing, the rules are bending and changing every day.

Resources for families and educators staying home during COVID-19

We’ve put together some of our best resources to help you and your family manage during these uncertain times.

I was tricked by an AI image online

We have been witnessing a rising crescendo of conversation happening around AI and fake images online. It’s always been an issue, Photoshop and all, but it feels like there’s a snowball effect happening; AI is moving at speeds that we just can’t comprehend or keep up with.

Managing conversations about elections and the media as a parent

Ontario is currently in an election campaign and the entire country will have a federal election at some point this year as well (the exact date is yet to be determined).  As a parent, elections pose a valuable time to have discussions with kids about the privilege of voting, the ways democracy works, how the Canadian government functions, how political advertising works, why sharing accurate info about politics matters and more. 

Witnessing cyberbullying: Teaching kids how to respond to make things better (not worse)

Parenting is a tough gig. We know it’s going to be hard going into it, but no one really explains how it’s going to all work when we finally get there. 

Everything is a house hippo

Remember the house hippo? The beloved mini creature who lived in Canadian homes? Or at least, that’s what we were told years ago as part of a Concerned Children's Advertisers campaign to help kids think critically about what they were seeing on TV.

Diversity and Inclusion Online, Media Literacy Week 2017

Cyberbullying tweets from the President of the United States. Sexism in Silicon Valley. Fake news from social media feeds fuelling online hate.

It’s been a rough year so far on the digital media landscape.

A Parent's Guide to Pokémon Go

Over the last week our world has been invaded: cute cartoon creatures can now be found lurking in parks, restaurants, museums, and even people's houses. If you haven't seen them, it's because they're only visible on a smartphone screen, and only if you're playing the new game "Pokémon Go".