The third place thing is such a big one as a military family that moves every two years those are the places I try to find first that help a place feel like home.
Thanks for saving us from the fluorescent lighting 😂
Re: third places, what’s the ramification of those third places just being a different place for kids to connect to social on their phones? To what degree do we need third places to provide engaging, non-digital programming? Curious if this came up at all.
Great question! I think there's probably a need for both types of spaces - those with more "formal" adult-organized programming, extracurricular activities, etc., but also those where kids can just hang out independently.
Your comment about adults needing help too, YES. That was a big thought as I was reading through that. I don't have kids, but I also don't feel like I have a good system set up for myself with social media as an adult who was in college when FB was born and watched the whole thing unfold.
Another thought I had: have you considered presenting that information through county extension? I realize that's more weighted toward rural communities and areas with a strong 4H program, but it's been a reliable way to disseminate research based information to communities for a long time. Schools are great, but I think this would help for adults.
Thank you for such helpful takeaways, such important notes on what's going on in the research. And yes to third spaces--I have been thinking about this a lot and it needs to be a bigger part of the conversation outside of the individual focus on families managing social media within their homes.
Thank you for another excellent article, unpacking the complexity of this VIP topic. I'm a veteran ICT specialist doing R&D for my still under development "Knights" publication, here on substack. Your insights are really really helping me, whereas I have the deep knowledge of IT, the insights you bring are quite invaluable. Thank you for permitting comments from your free subscribers, who knows where this may lead?
I'm really interested to see if society can make any headway with bringing back real third places for children and teens. I think we're forgetting how much society disliked kids meeting up in person before phones existed. Growing up in the 00s, I remember that many parents, teachers and even politicians were actively discouraging street play for teens because they feared kids were being recruited into crime, peer pressuring each other to take drugs, or just generally had a negative feeling about the noise, swearing, and littering that often occurs when lots of young people get together. If we banned all smartphones tomorrow and kids started meeting up again in the street, I doubt it would be long before many of the same worries we have about the digital world re-emerge as worries about the real world.
The third place thing is such a big one as a military family that moves every two years those are the places I try to find first that help a place feel like home.
This makes a ton of sense!
Thanks for saving us from the fluorescent lighting 😂
Re: third places, what’s the ramification of those third places just being a different place for kids to connect to social on their phones? To what degree do we need third places to provide engaging, non-digital programming? Curious if this came up at all.
Great question! I think there's probably a need for both types of spaces - those with more "formal" adult-organized programming, extracurricular activities, etc., but also those where kids can just hang out independently.
Your comment about adults needing help too, YES. That was a big thought as I was reading through that. I don't have kids, but I also don't feel like I have a good system set up for myself with social media as an adult who was in college when FB was born and watched the whole thing unfold.
Another thought I had: have you considered presenting that information through county extension? I realize that's more weighted toward rural communities and areas with a strong 4H program, but it's been a reliable way to disseminate research based information to communities for a long time. Schools are great, but I think this would help for adults.
This is a great idea!
Thank you for such helpful takeaways, such important notes on what's going on in the research. And yes to third spaces--I have been thinking about this a lot and it needs to be a bigger part of the conversation outside of the individual focus on families managing social media within their homes.
Thanks Kathryn!
Thank you for another excellent article, unpacking the complexity of this VIP topic. I'm a veteran ICT specialist doing R&D for my still under development "Knights" publication, here on substack. Your insights are really really helping me, whereas I have the deep knowledge of IT, the insights you bring are quite invaluable. Thank you for permitting comments from your free subscribers, who knows where this may lead?
I'm really interested to see if society can make any headway with bringing back real third places for children and teens. I think we're forgetting how much society disliked kids meeting up in person before phones existed. Growing up in the 00s, I remember that many parents, teachers and even politicians were actively discouraging street play for teens because they feared kids were being recruited into crime, peer pressuring each other to take drugs, or just generally had a negative feeling about the noise, swearing, and littering that often occurs when lots of young people get together. If we banned all smartphones tomorrow and kids started meeting up again in the street, I doubt it would be long before many of the same worries we have about the digital world re-emerge as worries about the real world.
These are such great takeaways and so thought provoking and yet I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to say “search up.”
“I’m going to search up that Iliad reference.” “I didn’t know that, I’ll search that up.” (Gah! Why am I so old! 😂)