the social family
Social Media with training wheels
Looking to raise a future YouTube sensation, but don’t want to expose your kid to the wild world of YouTube commenters? That’s why we have sites like KidzVuz. If we know anything about the internet, it’s that it’s a good place to share your opinions, which is what KidzVuz does; it’s all kids making video reviews and posting them to the site.
Kids only sign up with a user name, not their real names, and parents have to approve their account. All comments are monitored and there isn’t any private messaging. The Wall Street Journal spoke to one of the KidzVuz co-founders, who says their aim is to teach kids how to create content at an early age. Read more...
the social family
New niche home design is flexible, intuitive and totally automatic
What do you look for in a solid family home? backyard? Good water pressure? A new generation of home builders are taking these necessities to the next level. Enter the smart home, where curtains are motorized, walls change colour on command and digital appliances let you know if the milk is low. Of course, you can control it all with your iPad.
A handful of niche developers in England are now offering these luxuries to a new era of families – hi tech, cutting edge, design-forward families. Modern designed townhouses and full-sized houses are aimed at young couples, starting at £535 000 ($853, 400 CAN).
Sure, homes all over the world are already well-equipped with automated garage doors and timed coffee machines, but the smart home is essentially a robot — it can sense and process data and act accordingly. Designers are capitalizing on this new human-aware intelligence (or ambient intelligence or ambient computing) with the goal of making home life not only maximally comfortable and secure, but also environmentally sustainable. Read more...
the social family
How kids consume media today
The current issue of Ad Week is devoted to kids. It covers things like how kids influence the buying decisions of the family, how companies are doubling their efforts to stay hip and relevant with the kids and of course, how kids are participating in and consuming media.
Among its findings were that most kids are using smartphones, even if for just a few minutes a day. (Do you ever just hand your toddler your iPhone set to a photo album or something?) Also, kids with college-educated parents watch less TV. Read more...
the social family
Hasbro and Mattel jump on the app train
Recall the days when there was a staunch divide between classic toys and digital devices?
In a classic “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” quandary, major toy makers are now adapting many enduring childhood favourite games for the digital age. Mattel is introducing a line of games called Apptivity for their classic brands including Hot Wheels, Fisher Price and Barbie. Following suit, Hasbro has released zAPPed editions of The Game of Life and Scrabble.
In a recent article by The New York Times, Mattel senior vice president for marketing Chuck Scothon said, “We know kids are going to play with technology, with iPhones and iPads and Android devices, our job is not necessarily to avoid that, but if you can fix it, feature it.” Read more...
the social family
Our parenting expert tells you what you need to know
There were some great discussions at our Social Media Week panel that featured Alyson Schafer, teacher Royan Lee and blogger Brad Moon. Our panelists didn’t always agree on everything, but brought different experiences with teaching kids how to work in the digital space.
Schafer thinks that of all the topics discussed at the panel, the most important were:
1. Deciding when and how to get your kid on Facebook
2. What the deal with gaming, is it good for your kid? Harmful to your kid?
3. And with everything going increasingly mobile, how do parents control what their kids consume media-wise?
What Schafer, Lee and Moon came up with was:
1. Re: Facebook — If you’re nervous about your kid getting on the social network, start off slow with a family profile. With your family profile, friend only aunts, uncles and cousins. Read more...
the social family
A question for the iPad and other tablet-owning families
A new Neilson survey finds that in tablet-owning households, 70 percent of kids get to play with the tablet device. Not only do the kids get to use it, parents are relying on the tablet to keeps the kids occupied when traveling or sitting in a restaurant. Here’s how tablet usage breaks down:
How does your family use your tablet (if you have one)? We sort of expected more communication usage, but we guess games really do dominate on our iPad too. That and hockey-related YouTube clips.
Photo by Paul Mayne via Flickr, chart via Neilson.
the social family
Here’s what you might have missed
Yesterday, we hosted a Social Media Week panel that was a bit of a continuation of last year’s Social Family discussion. Specifically, we were interested in talking about how within 12 short months, our families’ relationships with social media, especially on mobile platforms, has changed so drastically. We invited back our favourite parenting expert, Alyson Schafer and brought in innovative educator Royan Lee and a blogger from one of our favourite sites, GeekDad’s Brad Moon.
Here are some highlights, captured by our audience via Twitter:
@elanamatic: “Teaching kids about tech and social media is part of parenting today” @alysonschafer, which follows
@elanamatic “it’s important to create a safe environment for kids to share what is happening in their online life”
What if you’re not digitally savvy yourself? Alyson Schafer says tough! It’s just another thing we have to do with our kids now. Read more...
