Keeping up with kids in a wireless world

By Samantha McAleese, research associate at MediaSmarts and
David Fowler, vice-president, marketing and communications at CIRA.

Building Better Tech Habits: A Guide to Digital Well-being

Screen time is one of parents’ top tech-related concerns, according to MediaSmarts’ research, and it’s the most common source of tech-related conflict between parents and young people in Canada. Kids are worried about their screen use too: almost half say they spend too much time on their phones.

Your living room’s new “black box”

With the launch of the Xbox One in November, 2013 has finally finished giving birth to the newest generation of video game consoles. Wii U, PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Xbox One are sure to be on many children’s wish lists for the holidays this year, but these new consoles are anything but child’s play. Far from being simple machines for playing video games, these new consoles are more connected to the Internet than ever and have lots of new social features.

The Gimme Season

For parents, this time of year can feel like walking through a minefield, with ads, decorations and music all aimed at getting kids excited about Christmas. Every year children eagerly ask Santa for the “hottest,” “must-have” toys – and then turn that “pester power” on their parents.

What an Internet Outage Means for Teens

We had an internet outage in our neighbourhood last week. We had no internet access for three whole days.

The Family Chat

Our youngest is about to turn 14, and that means it’s time for the last member of our family to get her own cell phone.

We decided back when our oldest was heading off to high school that age 14, Grade 9, is cell phone time for our family. We’ve been happy with that decision – it seemed like the right time in terms of maturity, and also it became clear that having a phone to use in class at high school was beneficial and even expected.

What is it like to raise children in an age of zero privacy?

There’s a video about a hysterical woman who missed her ferry is making the rounds right now. CBC decided to give it some play, even though there’s no real story behind it.

Understanding AI and helping youth make the most of it 

Everywhere we turn, we’re hearing about artificial intelligence (AI). We already know AI is all around us – algorithms are suggesting what to watch and tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney are being used to generate the content we’re seeing.  But how many of us actually understand what algorithms even are? And if you’re a parent, guardian or teacher, are you prepared to teach youth how to use AI responsibly? 

What do our kids use their devices for the most?  

There’s no denying that being online can have negative effects, for adults and children. At the same time, we are living in a digital age where being online has become threaded into our everyday lives with various effects, some positive and some not so much. 

Getting the Rules Right

When screens started being part of our daily lives – not just for work, but for entertainment, communication, and news – we parents had to do some serious thinking. What would the rules be? How would we govern these new devices? What were the best choices?