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Dear Colleagues:
Dr. Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at California State
University, Dominguez Hills, has long studied "the Net Generation,"
the first to have grown up with the Internet, not to mention
cellphones.
In his latest book, Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net
Generation, he helps parents understand social networks.
His advice: Talk to your kids, learn the technology and don't panic.
Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation tackles
issues that scare parents including sexual predators, cyberbullying,
Internet addiction, pornography and more.
Each topic is presented so parents can appreciate, understand, and
integrate the recommendations into their own parenting style using
Dr. Rosen's 30-plus years of research, teaching, and interviews with
thousands of children and parents.
Dr. Rosen brings insights, humor, and a balanced approach to how
parents can understand and deal with this particularly challenging
phenomenon. An enjoyable, authoritative, and practical book for
today's parents!
Dr. Rosen also serves with me as a member of the Advisory Board of
NEPI, the National
Effective Parenting Initiative.
To purchase Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation
click here.
With warmest regards,
Kerby T. Alvy, Ph.D.
CICC Founder and Executive Director
NEPI Board of Advisors
Book Description
They're doing everything from talking with friends to downloading
music, researching homework and even reading the news. A virtual
community of over 86 million members and growing, MySpace is the 4th
most popular English language website.
In Me, MySpace, and I: Parenting the Net Generation Dr. Larry
D. Rosen provides parents and educators with a road map to their
children's virtual world and advice for making it safe.
Using sound psychological theories, extensive research data-
including interviews with over 1500 MySpacers and their parents-and
his thirty years of experience, Dr. Rosen explores what children,
tweens, and teens have to say about the online world, the impact it
has on their lives and what it can tell us about the Net Generation.
With their busy schedules and many of the previously public
gathering places no longer safe or available, adolescents turn to
forums like MySpace.
The Internet, MySpace specifically, provides a unique environment
for adolescents to explore their identity, friendships, and
sexuality, and simply practice life.
Dr. Rosen offers a complete overview of the online communities
inhabited by today's multitasking and tech savvy youth. He deals
frankly with issues of the online world-including cyberbullying,
internet addiction, sexuality, virtual friendships--while at the
same time challenging the commonly held belief that these
communities are damaging.
In a positive and supportive way, and without scare tactics, the
book shows parents how to be proactive and anticipate potential
problems.
Parents will learn...
Seven suggestions for proactive parenting
- Eight things
parents can do to help their child thrive in the virtual world
- The signs of
Internet addiction
- Ground rules and
realistic limits for computer use
- What to do if
your child is being cyberbullied
- Tips for making
family time more productive
- Advice for
discussing sex with your adolescent
- What to do if you
suspect your adolescent is a potential victim of a sexual
predator
Book Reviews
Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation
"Rosen brings his expertise as both a research psychologist and
father together in this new book, Me, MySpace and I: Parenting
the Net Generation. He provides great insight and excellent
guidance." --
Nancy E. Willard, author of Cyber-Safe Kids,
Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People learn to Make Safe and
Responsible Choices Online
_________________________________________
"Dr. Larry Rosen goes beyond the sensational headlines by providing
original research on how young people are actually using MySpace."
" Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation provides
parents with a much needed voice in the debate over the role of
social networking in the lives of today's totally wired teens." --
Anastasia Goodstein, author of Totally Wired: What
Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online
_______________________________________
"Dr. Rosen's book is a very timely and comprehensive look at the
virtual world. Me, MySpace, and I is groundbreaking and
presents important issues for children and their parents coping in
today's technological world."
" It is a practical handbook for parents and provides concrete
answers to their most pressing questions about social networking and
how children live online. " "Written by one of the top authorities
on the impact of technology and combining theory, research, and
common sense advice in easy-to-read language, Me, MySpace and I:
Parenting the Net Generation is a must read for all parents." --
Dr. Kimberly Young, author of Caught in the Net and
Tangled in the Weband director of the Center for Internet Addiction
Recovery
USA Today Interview with Dr. Larry Rosen
Q: Why did you write this book?
A: For kids - what I'm calling the Net generation, anybody born
after 1980 - technology is not a tool. It just is. It's part of
their life. They think of it differently.
Q: How has technology influenced this generation?
A: They do things in a more abbreviated fashion. They IM
(instant-message) with multiple people at the same time. They can't
uni-task. They do everything on their own. They're very
self-motivated.
Q: How does it specifically affect their relationships?
A: They make commitments to people online they don't even know. But
their strongest commitment is to their family. They see more of the
world as a social world. So social problems are very important to
them.
Q: Do you think the Internet is fundamentally changing kids?
A: This world encourages us to multitask. I think it encourages kids
to be much less patient. More terse.
Q: Why are social networks so popular?
A: When I grew up (a baby boomer), our social life was outside. We
hung out. The next generation spent time at the mall. This
generation spends time at home - connected. Kids have to be social.
It's all part of the preteen and teen years and young adult years.
MySpace happened to come around at the right time when you had a
whole generation of kids who needed a place to be social.
Q: Weigh the positives and the negatives of social networking.
A: Because they have a combination of people they know face-to-face
in the real world and people they don't, (those of the Net
generation) get a lot of chances to bounce ideas and to test out
things on a social network that they probably wouldn't do face-to-
face.
I hear that a lot from kids - that they feel much more comfortable
saying things online than they ever would off-line. That's a real
positive because they get to test out their world. They get to
figure out who they are.
Q: So how should parents think about social networks?
A: You can certainly use your parenting skills to help them get the
most out of MySpace - to not be addicted, to not be bullied and to
know what to do when you're bullied. But taking (MySpace) away from
them is really like restricting going to the mall with their friends
or going to school and talking to their friends. It's tantamount to
making them a pariah.
Q: Can you give some solid parenting tips?
A: Talk to your kids. If the computer is in their rooms - which is
not a good idea - walk in and ask them what they are doing. Ask them
what's new, what they like about it - don't be judgmental. Tell them
you want to learn. Kids love rules, believe it or not. Kids need
limits.
They're defining a new generational attitude. But they're not new
teenagers. We know what adolescents do.
You have to learn what potential problems there might be, and then,
like a good, authoritative parent, you discuss those with your kids.
You know there might be sexual predators out there. And you have to
know: 'Well, does anyone say anything nasty to you? How do you
handle that?'
Q: Compare the Internet and social networking to television.
A: Every waking minute of every day, they are interacting with some
sort of technological medium, except perhaps when they're in school,
and even then, kids are texting from their pockets. They're wearing
iPods all day. It's just a different world for them. The impact of
television on society took years and years and years. And we had a
chance to adapt to it.
The kinds of tools these kids are using are vast. Nobody heard of
MySpace five years ago. Nobody heard of an iPod five years ago.
Nobody heard of instant messaging.
This is a rapidly changing technological world and the kids are the
first ones to adapt technology.
Q: Are parents keeping up?
A: Parents have a total misconception about what their kids are
doing online.
They don't know how much time they're spending. They don't have the
breadth of what's happening to the kids online. They think the kids
are being attacked by predators all the time. They are way
over-concerned about the technology that the kids are using.
Everything is so different from year to year. No wonder the parents
are afraid.
They don't have to know everything, but they've got to see what
MySpace is about. They've got to understand this whole thing of kids
text-messaging all day long. They have to understand what it means
to have kids plugged into their iPod all day long.
To purchase Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation,
click here.
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