Tag Archives: research

In this episode of Into the Digital Future, hosts Jordan Shapiro and Laura Higgins sit down with long-time mixed methods researcher Amanda Lenhart to discuss her journey into internet research and her extensive work focused on youth, their mental health, and digital interactions. They delve into myths and misconceptions about digital media, screen time, and the nuanced impact of technology on young people. The conversation also explores the emerging role of generative AI in education, the challenges schools face in…

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center with support from the Walton Family Foundation, is excited to announce a three-year initiative with a simple, yet profound goal: ensuring that the needs and perspectives of children from diverse backgrounds drive educational technology products development for use at home or in school.  The Cooney Center Sandbox aims to reshape an edtech marketplace that is booming in the financial sense—with U.S. school districts spending more than $40 billion annually on apps and software—but lacking evidence…

Recent breakthroughs in Large Language Models (LLMs), generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), intelligent agents, and other AI-driven technologies are driving the rapid expansion of AI in and across our everyday lives. As argued in a recent policy brief I co-authored for CIFAR’s AI Insights series, entitled Responsible AI and Children: Insights, Implications, and Best Practices, this is just as true for kids as it is for adults. In fact, any time kids use or encounter digital technologies, AI is likely already…

When we look to the gold standards of research-practice integration in children’s media established by Sesame Workshop, we know that it is possible for research and practice to be harmoniously integrated to create content that kids and families love (See Joan Ganz Cooney’s The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education, originally produced in 1966 for the Carnegie Corporation). But how widespread is the desire to integrate research into practice today? Is research equally valued among people who work in…

In this episode of Into the Digital Future, Dr. Sameer Hinduja, Co-Director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, joins hosts Laura Higgins and Jordan Shapiro to explore the complexities of youth behavior in digital spaces, including the concept of digital self-harm. Dr. Hinduja shares his insights on building empathy, resilience, and the role of social media in fostering connection and support. This thought-provoking discussion offers valuable perspectives for parents, educators, and policymakers navigating the challenges of the digital age. This transcript…

In the last five years, there has been mounting public interest in the relationship between digital technology use and children’s wellbeing. New policies and legislation aimed at promoting children’s rights and/or safety online are being proposed across North America and around the world at an unprecedented rate. Despite their popularity among children of all ages, however, digital games are often left out of the conversation. As is children’s vast knowledge, insights, and willingness to discuss the positives and negatives that…

As a researcher focusing on AI and child development (and also as a parent of two), I have seen many instances of kids talking to conversational AI agents like Siri, Alexa, or ChatGPT. It seems that kids turn to AI agents to satisfy their curiosity, asking things like what six plus six equals, how far away black holes are, or how to make an invisible potion. And sometimes kids engage in what feels like social chitchat: they share their favorite…

During the week of the 2024 Games for Change Festival, the Cooney Center had the privilege of helping to organize a series of events to bring the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children Project (RITEC) learnings to life by sharing the backstory of the research process and work with children, and demonstrating how some have begun putting the RITEC-8 framework into practice. Celebrating the launch of the recent RITEC research report: Diving into working with children for children We started…

In February 2019, a story titled “California newborn becomes first baby to be named an emoji” circulated widely on social media. The story claimed a mother had named her baby the emoji equivalent of “heart-eyes heart-eyes heart-eyes.” It was fake and could be recognized as such by either its content or its source: prettycoolsite.com. Still, this story was shared on social media thousands of times, and some of those who shared it were likely children. Most US elementary-school-aged children have…

When I was a fourth-grade teacher, a minor scandal broke out when a student—who had proudly shared his private password with several friends—logged into our school library platform to find that all of his contacts and corresponding book recommendations had been deleted. This wasn’t due to a system glitch or the accidental click of a button—instead, a nascent classroom hacker had used that freely shared password to play a practical joke on her classmate. Looking back, this incident might have…