This is the first issue of the “Frontline” digital ethics and safety newsletter compiled by Joe Showker, Instructional Technology Resource Teacher for Rockingham County Schools — we would send these via the list, however some words are sure spam filter traps — but this is vital information for parents, teachers and anyone with an interest in high ethics for our online world
How Many Facebook Friends Do We Have, For Real?
“A few weeks ago, we reported on a study re-released by Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, wherein he retested his theory that the size of the human brain’s neocortex can only [Dunbar's number] comprehend social circles of 150 before cohesion gives out.”
* continue reading :: Robin Dunbar of Oxford University
Officer, I didn’t see it coming
One in four (26%) of American teens of driving age say they have texted while driving, and half (48%) of all teens ages 12 to 17 say they’ve been a passenger while a driver has texted behind the wheel. It’s worse than drunk driving!
This is an important article for parents, drivers ed. teachers, and anyone mentoring youth.
* continue reading :: Get your eyes off that cellphone
Videos for your presentations and instruction
for you user group meeting planners … these appropriate vids also make powerful impact in the classroom, PTA meeting, or family gathering. (unfortunately some have been removed for their direct and explicit nature.)
* continue reading :: digiciti.pbworks.com
Why kids self-destruct with cell phones and online
NONE of the teens receiving sexting messages realize there are 5 felonies involved (at least here in Virginia). Please share this information with your students and any young person you mentor! At the very least reputations are being ruined, at worst suicide looms as one teen’s solution.
* continue reading :: at www.slate.com
Survey: 15 percent of teens get sexual text messages
“This girl sent pictures to her boyfriend. Then they broke up and he sent them to his friend, who sent them to “like everyone in my school… It ruined high school for her,” one older high school boy wrote in the survey.
* continue reading :: edition.cnn.com
Sex and Tech: What’s Really Going On
This page has great material for adults and kids. What is internet safety and digital ethics? In many cases it’s FLE-”family life” education on the web.
* continue reading :: thenationalcampaign.org
Heavy research link: Social Networks
This page has multiple links for your instruction from a top drawer organization. A++
* continue reading :: CTAP4 Cybersafety Project
Internet safety campaign to bypass adults
Experts fear parents are too far behind their children! Now that’s telling like it is! The new strategy will target children directly, rather than their parents, in the same way as the Green Cross Code gave young people clear instructions on crossing the road in the 1970s.
Experts fear parents are already too far behind their children when it comes to using the internet to be of any help.
* continue reading :: technology.timesonline.co.uk
Digital Media Research on Generation M2
“Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week).
And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7 hours.”
* continue reading :: The Kaiser Family Foundation
Hot for Words star posts sexting video
Careful this one’s PG… but this youtube star has the youth’s attention. A side link from the Mobile Watchdog page.
* continue reading :: personalmoneystore.com
Social Media and Young Adults
Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use
and another link from Pew…
* continue reading :: Pew Internet Project
From the Frontline
From the Frontline is a news brief with current news about all things Internet Safety and Digital Ethics. Feel free to share or forward this email to your contacts working with kids on internet safety and digital ethics.
Posts are from up to the minute research and postings about internet safety issues, compiled by Instructional Technology Resource Teacher Joe Showker of Rockingham County Schools.
Joe is a National Advisory Board member for WebWiseKids.org, and you can find these and a lot more at his personal netsafety bookmarks page
* continue reading :: del.icio.us/digitalsafety
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