Those of us with children of our own often struggle with their relationship with media. It seems less common for us to question our habits regarding what we share about our kids in our own social-media posts. Just yesterday, I was talking with a friend about whether I should ask my kids’ permission before posting about…
Exciting news from our friends at Media Literacy Now: Connecticut becomes the 4th state to introduce media literacy legislation through the work of Media Literacy Now and our partners. Qur-an Webb is taking the lead on the legislative effort in Connecticut. He has extensive experience working with youth and is a social work supervisor with the Connecticut Department of…
Time without screens is essential for healthy growth and healthy living, not only for children but for people of all ages. Too often, it seems that we, as a society, have accepted that we can’t live without them—we organize meetings using screens; we’re even publicizing and organizing Screen-Free Week using screens. But there’s a difference,…
Snowden Nominated for Alternative Nobel Prize by Jacques Brodeur Media educators are constantly searching for opportunities to sharpen critical skills with students and with fellow citizens. The actions of Edward Snowden, the response of the U.S. government, and the treatment of both by the media elicit a range of emotions in observers and point to…
[book review] Tuned-in Family: How to Cope, Communicate and Connect in a Digital World by Elaine Young Champlain College Publishing Initiative/Lulu, 2014 Reviewed by Rob Williams Begin with a simple but overwhelming fact. We live in the most mediated society in world history; we in the West are marinating in 10 to 12 hours of media…
At the Founding Summit of ACME in 2002, Dr Sut Jhally declared, “Media literacy is so dangerous to media corporations that they have moved to hijack the movement as it builds momentum.” Owners of media corporations know that critiques about the way screen-entertainers and marketers take advantage of children are legitimate. They also know that…
Fight for the Light! A response to the film Shadows of Liberty Rob Williams I recently had the good fortune to attend a screening of Shadows of Liberty at the Peace and Justice Center (PJC) in Burlington, Vermont. This new documentary film, featuring some of the world’s foremost media scholars and indie journalists, takes a…
by Sara Voorhees In the famous Town Hall of Paris’ 19th Arrondissement, Jacques Brodeur, ACME Board member, founder of EDUPAX (Quebec), and “Showman Extraordinaire,” in the words of his French colleagues, called to order the first European colloquium on the reduction of screen time, Les Enfants Face aux Ecrans: le Point (Children Before Screens: An…
Jacques Brodeur, ACME board member and founder of Edupax (Quebec), is helping to grow screen-time reduction around the world! Promotion en Français These two articles in French promote Screen-Free Week as an enthusiastic (and educational) approach to screen-time reduction. From France, “10 Days Without Screens” (the “webmag” Ma Famille Zen/My Zen Family): http://www.mafamillezen.com/medias-high-tech/emissions-television-enfants/10-jours-sans-ecrans-le-defi-est-lance/ And from Quebec,…
[book review] Media Literacy Education in Action: Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspectives Edited by Belinha S. De Abreu and Paul Mihailidis Routledge Press, 2014 ISBN: 978-0-415-65837-9 Reviewed by Rob Williams ACME had the good fortune to participate in the seminal Fairfield University Media Literacy Research Symposium this month, organized by Fairfield University’s Belinha S. De Abreu…
Smart Media Education for the 21st Century 