One of the best interviews about parenting in the digital age appears on the CNet site in an interview with Henry Jenkins of MIT done for an article called The Internet's new Dr. Spock? In it Jenkins takes on everything from the participation gap - 57% of teens who are online have produced some kind of uploaded media, while 43% haven't - and the access differential - how are kids who have 24/7 access to the Internet interacting with the world vs. those that might have 10 minutes a day at school or a library?
But my favorite quote for parents from the interview is "Turning your home into a surveillance culture, where you don't trust your kids, is dangerous because you're going to make it harder to communicate with your child. So part of what I've argued is that the kids don't need someone looking over their shoulders, they need someone watching their backs." I like that last part particularly - "kids don't need someone looking over their shoulders, they need someone watching their backs" - because it speaks to the truth of the situation. You can't watch every little thing your kids do online. Instead, you need to be someone who understands a bit about what happens online and be someone whose has their back by being a sounding board, a person who they can turn to without fear of repercussions when they find something they are unsure of or makes them uncomfortable online or if they become the victim of a cyberbully or even a predatory love interest. That's an excellent parenting position to strive for as school is starting. Read this interview and let us know your thoughts.
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