Digital Nation Airs Tuesday Feb. 2nd on PBS Frontline

On Tuesday, February 2nd PBS Frontline premieres "Digital Nation." This episode from the PBS series explores how digital technology affects modern society. "Digital Nation" covers technology's impact on education, relationships, parenting, the workplace and social networks.
Frontline producer Rachel Dretzin who also produced the insightful "Growing Up Online" in 2008, expands the digital conversation two years later with "Digital Nation." Program your TiVos and don't miss this timely Frontline doc. Check local PBS listings.

Sad Day for American Lit. J.D. Salinger Dies at 91

Today is a sad day for American literature. J.D. Salinger author of "The Catcher in the Rye," "Franny and Zooey" and "Nine Stories" died today at the age of 91.
I can remember the first time I read "Catcher in the Rye" and the immediate impact it had on me. The novel's vivid description of teen angst connects with so many readers and after almost 60 years in publication, the novel still rings true to those who are idealistic, impatient, romantic and young. Salinger's protagonist Holden Caulfield is one of the most accessible and beloved characters in modern literature. Every young writer aspires to create a character like Holden and every coming of age novel is measured against "Catcher in the Rye."
It has been years since I first read "Catcher" in high school and I hope Salinger's novel is still included in the high school literary canon. Great writing endures and Salinger's work will continue to influence generations of young readers and writers. Thank you Mr. Salinger for your contribution to American literature. Thank you.

Toyota Stops Selling Popular Mommy Driven Models

Toyota announced it would temporarily stop selling 8 car models due to problems with a sticky accelerator pedal. Many models are popular with mommy drivers including the Camry, Corolla, Highlander, RAV4 and Sequoia. The Avalon, Matrix and Tundra round out the list. Today's announcement comes after Toyota's recall of 2.3 million cars due to a sticky accelerator pedal.
My mother drives a Toyota as do many of my mommy friends. The Toyota accelerator problem needs to be fixed. I can't imagine the number of kids who are being driven to school/daycare in a Toyota every morning.

Netflix Night - 500 Days of Summer

Just watched "500 Days of Summer" with my daughter and we loved it!!! The movie starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, Zooey Deschanel and directed by Marc Webb was so charming and infectious, I felt guilty for not supporting it in its theatrical release. I had resisted watching "500 Days of Summer" after it was advertised as "This generation's Annie Hall." I'm a big Woody Allen fan, so anytime a film is compared to Woody Allen's best films (i.e. Manhattan, Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters) I refuse to see it. The comparison to Woody Allen was unnecessary, as 500 Days of Summer has a style all its own.

The film follows Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) as he spends 500 days with new girlfriend Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Tom a greeting card writer is the romantic protagonist who quickly falls for fellow co-worker Summer who looks like the Etsy poster child. As the title suggests, Tom and Summer's relationship flames out after 500 days. But as we follow their relationship's demise, we are exposed to hidden gems in the downtown Los Angeles setting and treated to Joseph Gordon Levitt's musical number set to Hall and Oates "You Make My Dreams." The film's quirky optimism reminded me of Bjork's music video "It's Oh So Quiet" and had me smiling and reminiscing about the days when I took Morrissey and The Smiths a little too seriously.

The brilliant soundtrack includes tunes from The Smiths, Wolfmother, Regina Spektor, Feist and a french ditty by Carla Bruni. The film also includes a karaoke scene sung to music by The Pixies and film junkie references to foreign film directors Ingmar Berman and Jean-Luc Godard. I'm not a big fan of romantic comedies and this is not your typical Sandra Bullock/Katherine Heigl fodder. "500 Days of Summer" is a clever and thoughful hipster fable with wonderful performances. "500 Days" proves that originality and charm still exists in the romantic comedy genre.

Youths Consume 10+ Hours of Media Content Per Day

This Kaiser Family Foundation study found the average 8-18 year old consumes 10 hours and 45 minutes of media content per day. Media content includes content from TV, music, computers, video games, movies and print. The study also found that 76% of kids ages 8-18 own an iPod/MP3 player, 66% own a cellphone and 29% own a laptop.
My daughter is 12 years old and my son is 8. Here's what they did today after school: science project using laptop and Flip camera, video games on Nintendo DS, purchased music from iTunes, listened to music on iPod, Club Penguin, YouTube, ate dinner with family and watched Cavaliers vs Lakers basketball game on TV. The Kaiser study describes our family to a T.
But before I scold my kids for their excessive media consumption -
Here's what I did today: answered emails, edited school calendar on laptop, had conference call with lawyer, picked kids up from school while listening to iPod in car, made after school snacks, hosted 6th grade study group, ate dinner with family, watched Cavaliers vs Lakers game on TV and wrote new blog post while watching "The Office." Looks like I need to put my excessive media consumption in check. It will have to wait 'til tomorrow because there's a new episode of "30 Rock" on now.

One Third of 11 Year Olds Have Cellphones

Wow. Look at this chart from the Silicon Alley Insider that shows 35% of kids ages 10-11 own mobile phones and 5% of kids ages 6-7 own mobile phones.
I'm surprised by the numbers, in spite of the fact that I recently got my kiddo a mobile phone. The idea for this blog came from my ambivalence towards getting my 6th grade daughter a mobile phone. I had months long conversations with my mommy friends (who I call my mommy posse) as we debated whether our middle school children should have a mobile phone. Our children are good kids. Honor students who never get into trouble at school. They are the kids the teachers love (responsible, conscientious & quiet). Being typical Asian moms, we didn't give the kids any kudos for good behavior or good grades - things you were supposed to do. And we didn't subscribe to the argument that a mobile phone is a tween necessity. But we wanted to give our kids more freedom and felt middle school would be a good place to start. In the end, they each got mobile phones and so far, so good.
During our long debates, we were most concerned about our kids using technology responsibly. That means no crank calls, no evil texts and no racy photos. Responsible also means no forwarding evil emails, texts or racy photos generated by another peer and reporting content that may be dangerous. It's a long list but we anticipate this will be a learning experience for us all. Besides, I need to figure it out soon. My 8 year old wants an iPhone.

Teen Protests Groundation on Facebook and Parent Group Answers Back

I heart teens. Here's a story about a teen who protests her parents' disciplinary action on Facebook. "1000 to get tess ungrounded" has attracted 1500+ members on Facebook and keeps growing thanks to coverage in the NY Times. Tess, a 15 year old from Queens, NY has been grounded by her parents for underage drinking and violating curfew. Tess made a plea to fellow teens to join her Facebook group to convince her parents to overturn her 5 week sentence. In classic blogosphere fashion, another parent started the "1000 to Support Parents Who Believe in Consequences for Serious Lapses in Judgement" Facebook group in a show of solidarity towards Tess' parents.
Tess' unsuccessful attempt to sway her parents is precocious and creative. If my daughter used similar tactics, I'd probably start a parent Facebook group as a counter-protest. This story is very timely as this is my 6th day blogging about parenting in the internet age. I've been forced to reconsider the consequences of my actions as a mommy blogger.
If mommy writes a blog about your family's experience . . . should a tween/teen/young adult have the right to respond - on their own blog? On their MySpace or Facebook page? Why not?
My 6th grade daughter doesn't have a blog or a Facebook page yet. But when she does and when she writes smack about me on her Facebook page . . . I'll let you know (here on my blog).

Community Supported Agriculture Program

Today we got our first produce box from Tanaka Farms delivered to our school. Our elementary school participates in Tanaka Farms Community Supported Agriculture Program. We pay $30 for one box of produce every 2 weeks and the school makes $5 for every box of produce sold. It's a great fundraiser for the school, while at the same time, supports local organic farming. Of course, I am happy to support Japanese American farmers and the kids were happy to get strawberries. They ate two baskets of strawberries and didn't share any with me.

Not Your Mother's Homework

I remember using the Encyclopedia Britannica for my school homework. Homework assignments for my kids are a whole new deal. Let me walk you through the homework process for my 2nd grade elementary school student:

1. Weekly homework assignments are downloaded and printed from the teacher's website at Edline.com
2. Studying for a spelling test involves playing online spelling games on spellingcity.com
3. Titles for book reports are researched through the local library website
4. For Show & Tell, a photo of my son's "Lego Spider" taken with a digital camera and printed using iPhoto & Pages
5. Questions about homework are researched on Google and Yahoo Answers
This is the homework process for a 2nd grader and the process isn't much different for a Kindergarten student. Much of the communication between teacher and parent is done via email. Report cards are still sent home in hard copy, but I'm sure that will change too.

Humble Beginnings

Welcome to the Parenthood in the 21st Century blog. This blog is about our family and our attempt as parents to raise kids in a world of mobile phones, YouTube and Club Penguin. We parents are constantly playing catch up to kids who are quick to adapt to new technologies. This makes for interesting parenting rules and boundaries. We take it one day at a time and hope we don't have any major disasters along the way.