I remember when the iPad was first released back in 2010. Shortly after it came out, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were spotted at a restaurant letting their daughter Suri, who was four years old at the time, play on their iPad while they waited for their food.
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.
The classic 1985 science fiction novel Ender's Game is one of several books of that period that foresaw both the advent of the Internet and its eventual importance in society. While certain aspects of its portrayal seem dated – in particular, it more resembles the text-based bulletin board systems of the time than today's graphic Web – one element stands out as being particularly prescient: the use of the Internet to allow youth to participate fully in society. While today's young people aren't using the Internet to take over the world, as the characters in the novel do, they are increasingly using it to change the world, and more and more teachers are using the Internet to bring civic engagement into the classroom.
Original digital art takes patience and skill. While yes, you could ask ChatGPT to recreate something similar with the right prompt, it doesn’t come close to the heart or care that was put into this original artwork and it doesn’t quite look the same.
‘Tis the season for festive viewing. At least in our home it is as we plan to celebrate Christmas and that means a lot of holiday movies and shows to watch! Yes, even as the kids have gotten older, this is one tradition that no one outgrows, at least in our home.
In a new survey, Vogue uncovered Gen Z’s current approach and expectations for consumerism, influencing and marketing. This is a generation that has grown up with ads in the palm of their hands. While we had to see them on television or in magazines, or hear ads on the radio when we were kids, our children are getting clips in between favourite YouTube videos or even while playing a game on an iPad.
Two of the most important kinds of information we look for online are about health and science. Because most of us aren’t experts on these topics, we rely on people and organizations who are experts for good information. MediaSmarts has developed new resources to help youth and adults find and recognize good information on science and health online.
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.
I’ve already written about YouTube and Instagram, but today I wanted to share some information about four other popular sites and apps that are on my radar right now: Snapchat, Vine, Tumblr and ask.fm.
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.