"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.

Little Fingers, Big Purchases: Guarding Against "In-App" Spending

Watch out for those flashy icons and banner ads promising extra content in game apps for kids. When little eyes see them, Mom or Dad's credit card bill could go through the roof.

A slew of recent news reports have shown just how easy it is for young kids to make expensive "in-app purchases," or IAPs, while playing games on mobile devices, and just how much their parents are paying for it.

In a recent piece in The Guardian on kids using iPhones and iPads, reporter Mark King tells the story of a 6-year-old boy who spent 160 pounds (roughly 240 U.S. dollars) on "Smurf Village credits" for the Smurfs' Village game in a matter of 15 minutes.

The child was able to do this because under current rules on Apple's iTunes, after a user first enters a password to make a purchase, there's a 15-minute window to make additional purchases without being prompted to re-enter the password.

Chris Brown, the boy's father, tells The Guardian his tale of app (and Apple) woe: "I contacted Apple and discovered I wasn't the only naive parent in the world. This is a common occurrence and Apple refused to issue any kind of refund. Needless to say that I have now disabled all in-app purchases on my devices. Lesson learned."

Such stories of parents surprised by monster bills for online gaming are on the rise everywhere (see this piece from Ireland, where one grandfather was left holding a pretty big bag).

"App developers are not often altruistic," Spencer Whitman of the firm AppCertain told The Guardian's King. "They often include in-app purchases hidden behind the free price tag. Either they offer a small amount of play, then charge for continued use; offer in-app purchases for more in-game content such as extra areas of play or upgrades; or they constantly interrupt game play to ask for in-app purchases."

Indeed, the "freemium" mobile app business model — in which the app itself is free but users are charged for additional content or functions — is highly effective. It's quickly becoming the standard for developers as revenue growth for freemium apps explodes.

In-app purchases will in fact drive 41% of app store revenues by 2016, up from just 10% in 2012, according to forecasts by Gartner Analysts, King reports. A Juniper Research forecast out this week said tablet users alone will generate $3.03 billion each year via IAPs by 2016 — a tenfold increase from the $301 million generated in 2012. Smartphone users will spend $6 billion on IAPs in 2016, Juniper forecasts.

King and others offer tips on protecting against costly IAPs.These include: Put a mobile device in "airplane" mode or turn off the Internet when your little one is using it. Link your app store account to a gift card instead of a credit card to limit the amount that can be spent. Require the account password to make any purchase.

And watch out for that in-app advertising. In another Guardian piece, out last week, King reports on an ad in a new app for a popular kids series that enticed kids to sign up for a subscription service for additional content — for a mere 208 pounds a year (about 315 U.S. dollars). The ad, on the Talking Friends Cartoons app for iPhones, iPad and Android devices, was pulled shortly after the app launched this month. (For more on this controversy, see this post on Apps Playground.)

Another new app, Dino Land from National Geographic, also stirred up controversy this month over an in-app extra in which kids can buy virtual "bones" for as much as 69.99 pounds (and apparently the same amount in dollars), King reports. (See Apps Playground again for more in-depth discussion.)

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission is looking closely at mobile apps designed for children. They put out not one but two reports last year on privacy concerns surrounding children's apps (see the earlier post on this blog "2012 Was an Interesting Year"). The warning is clear to developers: They should pay close attention to advertising rules and policies — and to a basic sense of what's right and wrong — when it comes to apps for kids. If they don't, they could be facing a major "app-lash" one day soon.

Geocaching: The High-Tech Treasure Hunt Kids Love

What child doesn't love a game of hide-and-seek? How about a high-tech version in which members of a global treasure-hunting community hide small treasures the child can seek out using a smartphone?

That's what geocaching is all about: It's a free, real-world game in which players use a GPS-enabled mobile device to navigate to a specific location — maybe even the local park — to find a hidden container, or "geocache," that another player placed. The geocache contains a logbook to sign and very often a real treasure, perhaps a small trinket or toy. You can take the item with you as long as you replace it with another item of the same or greater value.

There are more than 5 million players (or geocachers) worldwide, and many kids are getting in the game (with adult assistance). The high-tech scavenger hunt itself is enticing enough, but they get to trade small treasures to boot.

Sierra Filucci of Common Sense Media says she "struck gold" when she figured out a way to blend outdoor activity, exercise and the iPhone for her iPhone-obsessed son. Filucci shares tips for folks who want to give geocaching a try in the February 6 Huffington Post article "Nerding Out in Nature: One Smart Phone. Two Kids. Tons of Fun. She writes, for example, "Non-geocachers are called 'Muggles,' as in the non-wizards in Harry Potter's world. If you see Muggles during your hunt, you should act normal, and don't let them catch on to what you're doing. (Kids LOVE this part.)"

Geocaches are hidden all over the world. You can read about how the whole phenomenon started here. It's an interesting story.