Teach Online Privacy Early, Say Google Execs in "The New Digital Age"

Never mind the birds and the bees. It's the "online talk" that kids need to hear first.

That's what two Google executives write in the new book The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business. 

And when top guns at Google say teaching kids about online privacy and security should come even before sex education, you might want to listen. They know a thing or two, after all, about collecting personal information online.

"Whether you're in New York or Saudi Arabia or a part of Asia, educating the next generation as they're coming online young and fast is going to be important, regardless of what kind of society it is," Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, told NPR's "All Tech Considered" this week.

Cohen, a counterterrorism expert and former State Department adviser, teamed up with Google's executive chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt to write The New Digital Age, out today. The book lays out a vision of what the near future will look like in an increasingly "connected" world.

"Parents will have to talk to their kids about online privacy and security *years* before they talk to them about the birds and the bees," reads a post on the Facebook page for The New Digital Age. "Online privacy and security will be taught alongside health class."

Schmidt and Cohen say that kids today are part of a generation unlike any that came before it when it comes to virtual identities and permanent online profiles.

"The parent sits there and says, 'There's really no delete button for what my 10-year-old or 11-year-old is about to post, and I really don't want this following them for the next 50 years,'" Schmidt told NPR.

"From birth till your death now, going forward, your online profile will be shaped more and more by online events, what people say about you, and it will be very difficult for you to control that," he said. "And so the reality is that a child growing up today will find more and more of the things said about them and the things they do accumulate over time. We'll all, of course, deal with that as a society, and there will be a change in social mores. But the fact of the matter is that our generation never had this problem."

From The New Digital Age Facebook page

Cohen said he and Schmidt met with parents across the world as they conducted research for their new book. In the process, they came to a greater appreciation of the importance of teaching online privacy to kids.

For more on The New Digital Age and the authors' forecasts, both bleak and hopeful—and on Google's own troubles with privacy (they've been sued repeatedly over privacy concerns)—see this Huffington Post review. 

And for more on the authors' journeys to various autocratic regimes, and what might happen as 5 billion more people log onto the Internet in the coming decades, joining the 2 billion already online, listen to this second discussion with "All Tech Considered." The authors explore such questions as What will the Internet in Burma look like? and Will North Korea ever really be online?

"Present Shock" Author on Kids and Digital Media: When and How to Use What

Forget "future shock" — the stress of dealing with rapid, accelerating change. Our problem is the present — the real-time, "always on" immediacy of today's digital culture, says media theorist Douglas Rushkoff in his new book, Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now.

Rushkoff has been studying the impact of digital media on society for the past 30 years. It was Rushkoff who coined the phrases "viral media" and "digital native." In his latest book on media, technology and culture, out today, Rushkoff argues that trying to keep up in the digital world can be overwhelming — and comes at a cost.

"Thanks to the Internet, we travel more on business not less, we work at all hours on demand, and spend our free time answering email or tending to our social networks," Rushkoff writes in Present Shock. "Staring into screens, we are less attuned to light of day and the physiological rhythms of our housemates and co-workers."

Rushkoff, who made the 2010 PBS Frontline documentary Digital_Nation, calls us "citizens of the virtual city that never sleeps" in Present Shock. He describes such new phenomena as "digiphrenia" — the divided attention that results from being in multiple "places" at once and having multiple "selves" existing online simultaneously.

I won't dig much deeper into Present Shock here — you can read excerpts published in The Wall Street Journal and on "Medium;" read the reviews in The New York Times and Forbes; watch Rushkoff's recent speech on the subject at WebVisions New York 2013; listen to his interview on NPR's "On Point" today; and read this Q&A, just posted on Edutopia. It's all great stuff from a man who writes, "The future is so yesterday." 

Instead, I'd like to devote some space to what Rushkoff has written recently on children and digital media. Rushkoff has said that the constant pings of texts are taking kids out of the present moment rather than helping them live in it. And that growing up on Facebook — developing socially in an online spotlight — can put a lot of pressure on young people. (See why Rushkoff quit Facebook himself last month in this CNN.com piece — a scathing critique of what he calls an "anti-social social network.")

In two recent blog posts on Edutopia, Rushkoff offers parents advice on introducing digital media to children of different ages. The father of a 7-year-old himself, he has some firsthand experience. Here's a look at what he says in each post:

"Young Kids and Technology at Home," on Media and Younger Kids

Babies and toddlers are still developing the ability to understand the 3D world, Rushkoff writes here. "They don't fully understand the rules of opaque objects (that's why peekaboo behind a napkin poses endless fascination), so high quantities of time spent sitting in front of 2D screens may actually inhibit some of their 3D spatial awareness."

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and indeed most pediatricians, recommend that children under age 2 have no screen time whatsoever, for this reason and others. It's a time of tremendous, critical brain development, and the AAP stresses that young children need to learn through interactions with people, not screens.

Rushkoff acknowledges the stresses and realities of parenting — and the lure of the screen — and suggests a compromise: no more than 20 minutes of screen time twice a day for the very little. Still, he says, this should only be DVDs designed for kids that have long scenes their brains can process and elements such as nature that they wouldn't otherwise see. "And no, they can't sit next to Junior while he watches Lego Star Wars," Rushkoff writes.

Rushkoff says this is good policy for kids even up to 7 or 8 years old when it comes to devices like the iPad or Nintendo DS. That's because there's so much else kids need to learn first — such as gravity. Rushkoff writes:

"Little kids play with balls, seesaws and slides as they develop their vestibular senses, and come to learn about the wonders of gravity. They move on to Frisbees, bikes and Hula Hoops as they explore angular momentum and harmonic motion. The weightless world of a digital game or virtual environment fascinates us for the way it defies the rules of the real world; until we are firmly anchored in the former reality, however, these new principles are not neurologically compatible with a developing sensory system."

In other words, it's best not to mess with developing feedback mechanisms in a child. Let kids learn to navigate the real world before they venture into virtual ones, Rushkoff says.

"Technology at Home: Developing the Social Self," on the Tween Years and Beyond

Once your kids hit the tween years, it's important that they understand the various media they're using "from the inside out: who made this, how does it work, and what does it want from me?" Rushkoff writes. Kids should understand the motivations of the developers behind all the media that's competing for their attention, he says.

"An app is not just an app: it is a marketing plan, an influence platform, and an effort at manipulation. This doesn't mean it's bad – just that it has a purpose," Rushkoff writes. Young people especially, he says, "are unaware that the virtual environments they inhabit may not be constructed with their best interests in mind." Parents should help them understand this.

It's OK to let tweens play with and learn from digital media for one or two hours each day, he says, but it should not be their primary means of social engagement.

"Why? It's not really social!" Rushkoff writes. "Social development is a body-to-body, face-to-face affair. As our social selves form, we learn to read and send messages to other people. This is when we learn most of the 94% of communication that occurs non-verbally: body positions, tone of voice, pupils dilating or contracting... in other words, the stuff you can't see in a chat room or even a 4-inch video window."

Rushkoff doesn't recommend letting tweens on Facebook or other social media until they are "fully socialized" themselves. And if you give a tween his own mobile device, he says, make sure you're in charge of when and how it's used. Keep computers and other media devices in family rooms where you can monitor kids' usage. Do not allow them in kids' bedrooms.

"Let your children enjoy and learn from this stuff, but let them know from the outset that these are not mere toys; there are people on the other side of the screen — developers and programmers — whose job it is to make it really hard for a kid to stop playing." Empower kids to turn games off, Rushkoff writes. "If you can't turn it off, it means you're losing the bigger game." Let every minute a kid goes over her allotted time for the day cost 5 minutes of time the next day, Rushkoff advises.

As for teens, Rushkoff says they "shouldn't be online until they understand how to create their own online spaces." Teens should learn basic HTML and learn about databases. They should be exposed to coding languages and should learn to think critically about digital tools and virtual worlds. Schools and parents alike have the responsibility to encourage this education, Rushkoff says.

"The computer isn't a bad or dirty thing, but it is a portal to the outside world," he writes. "It provides access to love and hate, sex and war, ideas and ignorance, support and abuse. Just like the front doors to our homes, computers may welcome our dearest friends, but anyone can knock."

And when the lights go out, he writes, so should the smartphones. "Exceptions to the rule are that Hurricane Sandy hit, or the kids are at a sleepover. 'Johnny may ask me to the dance' is not an exception."

Note Rushkoff's great list of resources for parents and other interested parties at the end of this post, too. It includes Talking Back to Facebook, a 2012 book by James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, that addresses many parents' concerns about social media and offers practical advice. In this age of "present shock" and in-the-moment digital living, it's advice many parents will eagerly hear.

Cyber Sticks and Stones: A New Book on Cyberbullying

Harrassing texts. Private details about one's personal life posted on Facebook. Mean comments and cruel lies spread via Twitter. These are just some of the forms that cyberbullying is taking in today’s digital age.

Emily Bazelon, author of a new book on cyberbullying, Sticks and Stones, discussed how the Internet and social media have intensified bullying for today’s always-connected kids on NPR's Fresh Air today.

“It really can make bullying feel like it’s 24/7,” Bazelon told Fresh Air host Terry Gross. Unlike in the pre-Internet, pre-texting past, today “when you come home, if you’re a victim of bullying, you’re likely to see this kind of continue on a social media site or via texting,” she said. Indeed, a generation ago, kids were able to get a break from bullying when they left school for the day. Today they can experience it alone in their bedrooms at night.

"It's really hard for kids not to look when they think there's some mean thing being spread around about them," Bazelon said. Another difference for bullying victims today? Since the offending words are written down online, the harrassment can feel more visible, and permanent. "The bullying can take place in front of quite a large audience," she says.

Bazelon, a senior editor at Slate and also the Truman Capote fellow at Yale Law School, discussed her new book at length with Gross. (You can hear the full interview here). A main topic was how parents can navigate — and help their children navigate — the ever-changing world of digital media kids are growing up in today.

"Technology use is such a struggle for parents right now," she said. "It's so different than when we were growing up" — without social media, for example. "These sites are encouraging kids to share widely and habitually. That's good for their business models. The more brand loyalty they can build among kids and teenagers, and the more they can habituate all of us to just sharing, the more money they make. So we need to make sure to help kids think about whether they really want to be putting intimate details, intimate photographs about their lives online."

Bazelon also told the story of spending a day at Facebook — which has 20 million American teen users — to learn about a program Facebook is currently working on to help young people deal with bullying on its site.

"Facebook has a lot of influence over kids who are mean," she said. "They know from their own data that when they tell kids that they've posted something inappropriate [and] they ask them to take it down, those kids don't re-offend." The problem, though, Bazelon said, is that Facebook has been reluctant thus far to use its influence for too much good because "it doesn't want to be seen as uncool."

You can read an excerpt from Sticks and Stones on NPR’s website here. For more information on cyberbullying, visit the Cyberbullying Research Center.

Child e-Book Reading on the Rise: A Scholastic Study

The number of kids who've read an e-book nearly doubled between 2010 and 2012, Scholastic's new "Kids & Family Reading Report" finds. Among over 1,000 kids ages 6-17 surveyed, 46% said they've read an e-book, up from 25% in 2010. Their parents' e-reading habits have increased as well: 41% said they've read an e-book, up from just 14% in 2010.

From Scholastic's "Kids & Family Reading Report"

Interestingly, when asked what books they like to read for fun, a full 80% of the kids said they read mostly print books (vs. e-books). "I like the feel of the book in my hand," a 13-year-old girl in Georgia told Scholastic. "Books in print you keep forever," said a 15-year-old Ohio girl.

Still, almost half of the parents surveyed (49%) said their child does not spend enough time reading for fun — a jump from 36% just two years ago. By contrast, 33% said their child spends "too much time" or "way too much time" playing video or computer games on any kind of electronic device; and 32% said the same about the time their child spends visiting social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. See Scholastic's full report here.

2012 Was an Interesting Year

It's February 2013, and this marks the launch of "The Digital Child," a hub of news, resources and information on children and digital media. Before 2012 gets too far behind us, here's a round-up of some of the big news, studies and other developments of the year.

Kids' Tablets Explosion

If it seemed like there was a new made-for-kids tablet out each time you turned around, it's probably because there was. It was the year of the kid tablet — from the Toys "R" Us Tabeo, with its Hello Kitty and Angry Birds accessory cases, to the Fuhu Nabi Jr. (shown) for the preschool and kindergarten set, equipped with a "baby monitor" video camera for parents. Kid tablets tend to be plastic, easy-to-grip for tiny hands and rubber-edged for extra durability. They come with an array of parental controls but a price tag not that much less than some adult versions (many are in the $150-$200 range). 

Children's Technology Review offered this in-depth report on the market in December, analyzing and reviewing tons — and tons — of kid tablets. ConsumerReports.org also lab-tested and kid-tested five popular 7-inch Android kid tablets in December. And see these reviews from Forbes. Expect much more news and reviews this year as the tablets-for-tots market explodes.

Study: Apple's App Store Heavily Targets Young Children

Speaking of exploding... over 80% of the top-selling paid educational apps in Apple's iTunes App Store now target children, a January study by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop found. Of these apps, a whopping 72% target preschoolers. And it's a fast-growing market. An addendum to this study, from the summer, zoomed in on Apple's App Store's games category (which has an entire section devoted to kids, unlike its education category). It found that a full 56% of games apps target the toddler/preschooler set — by far the most popular age group. And almost a third of games apps (32%) make "some sort of educational claim," stating a learning objective. All of the apps making such claims target preschoolers and toddlers. 

FTC Warning: Privacy Woes Over Kids' Apps

With so much "app-tivity" geared toward the very young, can we soon expect an "app-lash"? In light of some looming privacy concerns, it's very possible. In December, the Federal Trade Commission outlined many troubling concerns over privacy and children's apps in its report "Mobile Apps for Kids: Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade." It was the FTC's second recent survey of the privacy disclosures and practices of children's apps (their first report was released in February 2012). Both surveys showed that app developers and stores are not providing parents information about the data being collected on their kids, who they're sharing it with and how it is being used. Parents, take note. Find the full FTC report here.

New Ratings: Got Learning Potential?

In April, Common Sense Media beta-launched a new rating system for kids' digital media to help parents and teachers find the more worthy products. The nonprofit organization rates websites, apps and video games as "Best for Learning," "Good for Learning," "Fair for Learning," or "Not for Learning." It is easy to search products by media type, title, age and the ratings themselves.

Panel: "Baby Brains and Video Games"

An expert panel held by New America NYC shed some light on a range of issues surrounding little ones and digital media last March. They discussed the latest research and outlined common concerns adults have about young minds and digital devices. One strong message was that content does matter. As panelist Rosemarie Truglio, senior VP of education and research for Sesame Workshop, put it, "Just because something is interactive does not necessarily make it educational." A lively Q&A followed the panel discussion. 

Some 2012 Articles Worth Reading:

"Educational Apps Alone Won't Teach Your Kid To Read", Slate, December 13, 2012
Adult-child interaction is still the most important factor in teaching literacy, write Lisa Guernsey and Michael Levine. They are two authors of the new report "Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West", which analyzed apps and e-books that promise to help kids learn to read. The report found that the most popular ones tend to focus only on very basic literacy skills without addressing higher-level skills such as vocabulary development and comprehension. "At its best, the technology complements the work of trained teachers and parents," they write. "It doesn’t replace it." Guernsey is the director of the Education Initiative at the New America Foundation (and was a panelist on the above-mentioned "Baby Brains" panel). Levine is executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.

"Is Technology Sapping Children's Creativity?", The Washington Post, September 13, 2012
Early childhood development expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige reminds adults exactly how young children learn: "through direct play and hands-on experiences with people, with materials, and in nature," she writes. She discusses the importance of playing in the three-dimensional world and using good ol' fashioned open-ended materials like blocks, play-dough, sand and water. She also asks if when we quiet our kids with little screens, "are they missing out on the chance to feel, to argue, to sit in silence, to listen, to be?" (P.S.: Carlsson-Paige is also the mother of actor Matt Damon — and a former neighbor of the author of this blog, from the blogger's own early childhood.)

"Sunday Dialogue: How Children Play", The New York Times, June 30, 2012

Another interesting discussion about children's learning, this one from The New York Times' "Letters" section. In a letter responding to an earlier article, "Wasting Time Is New Divide in Digital Era", about how children and families in different socioeconomic strata use technology, Sarah Chumsky, a children’s media researcher, outlines the benefits of digital media for children. Readers respond, rather passionately. One challenge from a Waldorf School teacher, for example: "Watch your children while they are engaged with media of any kind. Look at their faces and their limbs. Then watch them while you are reading their favorite book or playing a game, or while they are on a swing. Then decide for yourself what is most benefiting your child’s deepest developmental needs."

"What Happens When Toddlers Zone Out With an iPad?", The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2012
"In many ways, the average toddler using an iPad is a guinea pig," writes Ben Worthen — since scientific studies on the effects of such devices on toddlers' development can take three to five years, and iPads are not even yet three years old. Worthen discusses what pediatric neuroscientists and researchers have to say on the subject. He also documents what happened when his own toddler son started using an iPad (which he doesn't let him use anymore).

"Can Your Preschooler Learn Anything From an iPad App?", Slate, May 2, 2012
Another piece by Lisa Guernsey, veteran reporter and director of the Education Initiative at the New America Foundation — this one adapted from her March 2012 book, Screen Time: How Electronic Media — From Baby Videos to Educational Software — Affects Your Young Child. She discusses, among other things, the importance of apps and games that allow kids "open-ended" exploration and discovery, and the woeful lack of such products on the market today.