John Palfrey is the president of the MacArthur Foundation. He serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Knight Foundation and LRNG. He also serves as a Board member of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
THE CONNECTED PARENT: An Expert Guide to Parenting in a Digital World
"An excellent primer on what it means to live digitally. It should be required reading for adults trying to understand the next generation."
—Nicholas Negroponte, author of Being Digital on BORN DIGITAL
Young people are coming of age in a world that is profoundly different from the one that their parents knew during childhood. This short book, from the authors of BORN DIGITAL (available in 10 languages and three editions), is for parents who wonder what they should do when it comes to technology in their children’s lives. How much time should they be allowed to spend online? When should they be allowed to go on social media? What about playing video games? How can we keep them safe from harm online? Are they going to grow up less socially able if they’ve had their nose in a screen for too much of their childhood?
For this incredibly contemporary and accessible parenting guide, John Palfrey draws upon the research that underlies his book BORN DIGITAL, as well as his extensive experience as an educator. Based on this knowledge, he makes the case for a philosophy he calls “connected parenting.” This book is organized around the ten topics John has heard on the minds of parents most urgently, including Time Online, Privacy, Safety, Addiction, and more, to address what parents can do to help their child as they grow up in a digital age.
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BORN DIGITAL: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives
“Philosophy blends with social issues and insights in an invaluable pick for a brave new world. . .”
—California Book Watch
The first generation of “Digital Natives”—children who were born into and raised in the digital world—are coming of age, and soon our world will be reshaped in their image. Our economy, our politics, our culture, and even the shape of our family life will be forever transformed. But who are these Digital Natives? And what is the world they’re creating going to look like?
In BORN DIGITAL, leading Internet and technology experts John Palfrey and Urs Gasser offer a sociological portrait of these young people, who can seem, even to those merely a generation older, both extraordinarily sophisticated and strangely narrow. Exploring a broad range of issues, from the highly philosophical to the purely practical, BORN DIGITAL will be essential reading for parents, teachers, and the myriad of confused adults who want to understand the digital present—and shape the digital future.