Dot Learnt

2011 is right around the corner. Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions yet? It’s the time of year when people decide they will finally do that one thing they’ve been meaning to do, whether its running a marathon, losing weight, getting your finances in order or just reading more. But the real challenge lies in keeping the resolution, not just making it.

So, how do you keep a New Years Resolution? Tell a friend. Even better, tell thousands of friends. Sharing your goals with others will help keep you motivated, and honest. And Social Networks are here to help.

For some of the most common New Years Resolutions, “Lose Weight / Exercise More,” “Control My Finances,” “Learn How to Cook,” and “Read More,” new Social Networks are ready to help.

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Internationally recognized elementary educator and New York Times bestselling author Rafe Esquith warns us, “Parents, television is killing your child’s potential… Anyone raising a child has witnessed the destructive potential of the screen” (Lighting their Fires).

Henry Jenkins (Media Studies Expert and Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Art, University of Southern California) writes recent reports from the Kaiser Foundation lament the large amounts of time children spent on “screen media”:

The Kaiser reports collapse a range of different media consumption and production activities into a general category of ‘screen time’ without reflecting very deeply on the different degrees of social connectivity, creativity and learning involved… Yet, the focus on negative effects of media consumption offers an incomplete picture. These accounts do not appropriately value the skills and knowledge young people are gaining through their involvement with new media, and as a consequence, they may mislead us about the roles teachers and parents should play in helping children learn and grow (“Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture”).

Whether you fall into the camp of “Screens are evil!” versus “Bring on the screens!” one thing is for sure, as adults we need to:

• Limit screen time and encourage children to engage in good ol’ fashioned sports and play at least once (if not twice) a day.
• Or, if you can’t seem to pry your child (or yourself) from that laptop or video game, its time you invest in copies of Dance Dance Revolution or Wii Fit.

What am I getting at here?

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