* Supplemental education. Whether it’s being in a kid social network that helps them learn about hermit crabs, or wanting to spell "Cincinnati" correctly, our kids are supplementing their education at home or at school. * Digital literacy. Whether it’s learning how to upload an image to a website, or learning what constitutes cyberbullying and how not to be a bully, your child, in the right kids’ social network will learn critical digital literacy skills. * Social skills. We may lament that interaction is less face-to-face, but that is the reality. It’s ever more important that your child develop the age-appropriate interactive skills they need while receiving positive reinforcement. * Validation and acceptance. There’s nothing more encouraging to a child when they receive recognition in a community for their contribution. Not only does social media participation provide this opportunity, but it also provides them the opportunity to meet other kids who share the same interests.

The National Literacy Trust found that social networking sites and blogs help students to develop more positive attitudes toward writing and to become more confident in their writing abilities.

According to one of the studies, 49 per cent of young people believe that writing is “boring.” However, students who use technology-based texts such as blogs have more positive attitudes toward writing. Whereas 60 per cent of bloggers say that they enjoy writing, only 40 per cent of non-bloggers find writing enjoyable.

The study also showed that students who write blogs or maintain a profile on a social networking site tend to be more confident about their writing ability. More than 60 per cent of students who blog and 56 per cent of students who have a profile on a social networking site claim to be “good” or “very good” writers, compared with only 47 per cent of those who don’t use online formats. Having a blog also affects writing behaviour. Students who are active online are significantly more likely to keep a journal or write short stories, letters or song lyrics than those without a social networking presence.

Oberving the data throughout this essay, the best solution is to use both educational television and close captioning. First of all, educational television has been shown to increase literacy and cultural knowledge thus should be integrated into the classroom. Teachers should used educational television as a learning tool and to spur interest in academics. Secondly, parents should use close captioning in order to reverse the effects of non education television. Since television has been shown to displace reading, close captioning integrates both television and reading into one activity. Close captioning would allow the child to view television but at the same time read the captioning, thus increase literacy. These two factors are capable of reversing the negative effects of television and allow a new generation of children to increase literacy with the aid of technology.