MacArthur Foundation – Teens Learn Social and Technical Skills Through Digital Media

A new study from the MacArthur Foundation on Living and learning with new media has fascinating conclusions:

• Most youth use online networks to extend the friend-ships that they navigate in the familiar contexts of school, religious organizations, sports, and other local activities
• Online groups enable youth to connect to peers who share specialized and niche interests of various kinds
• New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in a classroom.
• Contrary to adult perceptions, while hanging out online, youth are picking up basic social and technical skills they need to fully participate in contemporary society.

The basic premise that motivated the creation of KidZui is that our children need the freedom to explore their interest online and the ability to interact with their friends online to fully function in contemporary society.  We believe that the discoveries in the MacArthur study apply to children under 13.

Contemporary society has changed dramatically from the society that parents grew up in. Society continues to change at a very rapid rate.  Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, demonstrates this well in their video titled Shift Happens.

In order to succeed in contemporary society children must have access to modern tools and the independence to explore online.

The MacArthur study researchers categorized teen engagement as either friendship-driven or interest-driven. KidZui has been designed with both interest driven and friendship driven youth in mind. The Explore area and search box/url address bar are aimed to satisfy interest driven youth, whereas the event stream/friend list on the right hand side is aimed at friendship driven youth. Friendship and interest driven activities merge in the middle, where ZUIs and content intermingle.

Children are being pressured to learn more faster than ever, because contemporary society changes more rapidly than ever. At the same time parents are concerned about the content and people their children may encounter online. This is why children must have safe tools that let them explore their interests without the possible harm of inappropriate content and with the safety of interactions where they cannot reveal their identity to those they do not know.