Latest Entries
Commercialization / Media / What's on my mind

Questioning the “New Normal”

Amazon’s advertisement: “We are the People With the Smile on the Box,” brought media ecologist Neil Postman to mind. On page twenty of his book Technopoly, he says: New technologies alter the structure of our interests: the things we think about. They alter the character of our symbols: the things we think with. And they … Continue reading

Possible Marriage: “Medical” and Media Literacy Approaches to Technology in Early Childhood
Early Childhood / family media literacy / Healthy Media Choices / Media Literacy Education / Parents / Teachers

Possible Marriage: “Medical” and Media Literacy Approaches to Technology in Early Childhood

Reading “Media Literacy In Early Childhood: Inquiry-Based Technology Integration” by Faith Rogow sharpened my understanding of the different paradigms that govern thinking about technology in early childhood education. First, the fundamental difference between what Rogow calls the “medical model” based on the recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Media Literacy Educators model … Continue reading

Entertainment Media Educates
Advertising / children and television / Early Childhood / family media literacy / Healthy Media Choices / Media Literacy Education

Entertainment Media Educates

“Experts Defend Videogames’ Educational Role,” La Prensa’s article on a study from researchers at the Open University of Catalonia, caught my eye. What the researchers point to is the need for Ludoliteracy, an understanding of how video games work, what they teach and how they influence us as humans. They point to the marginalization of … Continue reading

Advertising / Commercialization / Family / gender / Grandparents / Parents

Gender Identification Begins…

This was originally posted on February 28. I’m updating because I want to add JeongMee Yoon’s work: “Pink is For Girls….” from Slate.com “The consumer embryo begins to develop in the first year of existence…Children begin their consumer journey in infancy…and they certainly deserve consideration as consumers at that time.”   James U. McNeal, Pioneering Youth … Continue reading

Alternative Stories / Family / Parents / Rituals

Just Before the Family Meal

Family meal times are getting a lot of press right now, and high time. Recent articles in The Christian Science Monitor by Mary Beth McCauley and the New York Times by Susan Dominus as well as the Huffington Post’s on-going series “Family Dinner Table Talk” extoll the virtues of this time-honored (but oft neglected) family … Continue reading