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Technology in the lives of our children is here to stay. As a creator and developer, I am very pro technology. While there are many things to celebrate there are an equal number of things to be concerned with. My primary concerns are divided into 2 main areas: technology's impact on human to human interaction and the negative effects of shorter and shorter cycles of information, impacting our ability to focus our attention. Throughout of development cycle, we met with a number of parents. The number one thing everyone expressed was, wanting more time for themselves. Being a parent is exhausting and every one needs a break. What concerns me is the kinds of content, the kinds of experiences and fundamentally, the kinds of rhythms involved in those experiences. I don't want the digital baby sitter to over stimulate my kids or to weaken their ability to hold focus. Everything has a rhythm; every person, every moment, every place. As human beings, this is our primary relationship to our world and to each other. Providing parents with experiences that support their child's rhythm is key to the use of technology in the home. When seeking out digital content, I encourage parents to look for things that provide longer times of focus. Save the fun and flashy events for highly active time. Communicate to your child the quality of time as you make content available to them. its focus time - a movie, its fun time - a game, its quiet time - drawing. One of the things we've done with our digital book, is to provide a free downloadable coloring sheets. Every experience should not be digital. In fact, I believe strongly that facilitating the transition back to the analogue world is part of my responsibility as a digital content creator.

The New York Times is proud to be working with prestigious educational institutions to bring you a series of stimulating and engaging learning programs.

Interested in tipsheets/simple materials for parents/families of young children related to media diet. If others have good examples, would be great if you can bookmark/share them here with a mediadiet tag. Thanks!

Is it appropriate? Is it meaningful? Is it empowering?

Spending too much time with tech? Some "aha" moments from those who took the "Unplugged Challenge"...

Carepages is a site that allows individuals undergoing a health care challenge to connect with others going through the same experience. Families are also able to create their own blogs and websites where they can share updates with family and friends. Carepages provides support, community, and resources for anyone needing information and help during these trying times.Teachers can use this site to gain knowledge of conditions that might be affecting their students as well as by providing them with a way to check in on a student who might be in the hospital.

Carepages are a great way for families and patients to keep family and friends updated both in and out of the hospital. They would also be a great way for teachers and students to stay in touch with a friend who is in the hospital and missing school.

A website that connects patients during a "health challenge." This site, like CaringBridge, is for ill children and families and has information, discussion boards, and blogging. Although useful for a certain segment of the population, does it belong on techhome?

Will be interesting to see how new trends in technology, mobile devices, will be used by young children. This 2.5 year old seems quite savvy, testing out this new device.

The iTunes Store offers more than 100,000 audio and video podcasts from independent creators and big names like HBO, NPR, ESPN, The Onion, CBS Sports, and The New York Times.

Help to get started with learning about the many features of Diigo available in this new version. (have to break it up and learn a few at a time, but can see the potential for it to be really useful.)