Culture

Online safety needs to go beyond 'Don't talk to strangers'

As a previous generation of children was given the blanket advice "Don't talk to strangers," today's kids are told "never give out your personal information online." A new study suggests that this well-intentioned advice is not sufficient to protect children from unwanted sexual solicitation and harassment. The study comes to the controversial conclusion that sharing information online is not correlated with victimization. Many other online safety experts maintain that privacy protection is always a good first line of defense, though clearly not the only step.

The study, published in the February 2007 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine and reported by the AP, found that victimization is likely to be associated with online behavior such as talking about sex with people met online, or intentionally embarrassing someone else on the Internet. … Read more

Pump up the volume in style, boomers!

Intergenerational tech musings today: The New York Times has an interesting report about new advances in hearing aid technology. Companies are motivated to meet the needs of aging baby boomers facing progressive hearing loss.

But how to overcome the stigma of hearing aid use for this potential market of 78 million people? Recent innovation has led to new devices that look more like Bluetooth headsets or iPod headphones than older models that resembled "a chewed Circus Peanut."… Read more

Voyeurs 'R Us: What parents need to know about Stickam

My recent posting about child abuse concerns inherent in "$100 laptop" distribution in the developing world elicited strong responses both in favor and against my position. A new report about the ties between a live Webcam chat site, Stickam.com, and a large online pornography conglomerate underlines the seriousness of these risks, hitting us close to home here in the United States.… Read more

What happens when a cliche outlasts the technology that inspired it?

The new movie License to Wed has elicited an amazing amount of consensus from movie critics. They seem to agree that the movie stinks, and many wrote that the Reverend played by Robin Williams puts the bride and groom "through the ringer" with his obnoxious premarital counseling course.

I didn't worry about this cliche too much until I saw the same phrase turn up in more than a handful of reviews. For those of you scratching your heads wondering what "through the ringer" means (Something about ring tones? A ringer entered in a contest? A … Read more

Will the Transformers movie spark a backlash from parents?

A full-out assault has arrived in my living room. Transformers movie tie-ins are being marketed non-stop through ads on Nickelodeon, selling everything from Burger King kids' meals to Pontiac cars. We only watch about a hour of commercial TV a day, but there are multiple ads featuring the Transformers being shown within a single commercial break. The contradiction of a violent action flick based on Hasbro toys is spelled out right in the Burger King commercial--hey kids, get your kids' meal with one of eight toys based on characters from the movie (PG-13, some material may be inappropriate for children under 13).

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has turned a spotlight on this situation but has not yet received a lot of response. Transformers star Shia LaBoeuf has said that producer Steven Spielberg fought back against a proposed R-rating. Yet the movie is being marketed to kids all the way down to the toddler years. (Opti-mash prime Mr. Potato Head, anyone?)… Read more

There is such a thing as too much "time-saving"

There is such a thing as too much "time-saving." I worry that our 24/7 culture is creating instant-gratification expectations for even low-tech experiences.

I was worried that our 7-year old was getting hooked on high-tech immediacy, but even she realized that the TV ad for "Roll 'N Grow," the "miracle garden in a box" was pretty ridiculous. Talk about inventing a problem that isn't a problem. The pitchman blared in an alarmed tone, "You hoe and your rake, you shovel and you ache, and for what? Flowers that might not grow? Forget all that work.....Cut & place or just roll and grow!"… Read more

"The 4-Hour Workweek"--for parents

Efficiency expert Timothy Ferriss has written The 4-Hour Workweek for an audience who wants to "escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich." Ferriss uses a combination of techniques that take advantage of globalization, smart use of technology and outsourcing, and sheer brazenness to create a self-financing lifestyle that suits him.

Now, I do not have plans to ditch my homelife and move to Buenos Aires while my virtual empire churns away making money, but I wondered, could Ferriss' strategies help me break through some of the grunt work and limited thinking that typically comes with being a parent? I found that Ferriss has plenty to say that applied to busy families looking to create a satisfying life.… Read more

Mom's Minivan: Don't postpone increased fuel-efficiency

When I was in graduate school I learned the important life lesson "don't postpone joy." Not that graduate school could ever be considered fun, but at one point I was so miserable that I realized that I couldn't count on riding out the two to three years until graduation to start living my life with enjoyment and happiness.

That memory came to mind when I read about Google's research effort to develop a plug-in hybrid electric car that gets 70 to 100 miles per gallon. What if you are in the market right now for a minivan or SUV--should you sweat the difference between 18 and 22 mpg? The answer is a resounding YES. The biggest gains in fuel savings can actually be made by tweaking the efficiency of the worst gas-guzzlers. Innovation experts Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayers explain why.… Read more

Child abuse risks for $100 laptops?

Today the BBC reported a chilling update about the breakup of a global child abuse network that was run from a family farmhouse in England. Over 700 suspects have been identified and 31 children were rescued--but with over 85,000 images supplied by the mastermind, we may never know how many children were involved.

This news got me thinking about the potential child abuse risks inherent in the One Laptop Per Child initiative and other "$100 laptop" projects. These well-intentioned efforts plan to give computers to poor children throughout the world, to facilitate their education and fuel economic development. Machines are being rolled out by the thousands in test programs in places like Uruguay, Nigeria and Thailand.

In America, even tech-savvy parents have a hard time monitoring children's safe computer use. We are told not to put a computer in our kids' bedrooms, and not to allow them to use webcams. What happens when we bring video-enabled, networked laptops into poor communities, where parents may not be able to read, much less understand how to use technology? My concerns were raised, and when I contacted internet child-safety expert Linda Criddle, who has worked on raising awareness of this issue for a couple of years, she brought up detailed concerns about these efforts.

Criddle says that child pornography is among the "perfect microbusinesses" waiting to explode if laptops are distributed without proper precautions. Criddle warns that "we are about to unleash on the weakest people, children in the third world, the worst that the internet can offer, as well as the best." Unfortunately, she says computer companies do not have safety plans in place, and her warning seems to be falling on deaf ears among industry representatives she has contacted.… Read more