Digital Media and Developing Minds
October 13-16, 2015; Irvine, CA
Organized by David Meyer, Jane Brown and Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra
Overview
This colloquium was held in Irvine, CA on October 13-16 and co-sponsored by the Institute of Digital Media and Child Development.
The goals of the colloquium were a) identify and report on state-of-the-art research on the impact of digital media on developing minds; b) establish a dialogue between medical researchers and those in the social sciences who study media effects, educators, funders and industry and c) set the agenda for future research needed in order to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks to children and teens in the digital age.
The colloquium brought together neuroscientists, developmental psychologists, child development experts, pediatricians, media effects specialists, social scientists, experts in informatics and computer sciences, public health and environmental health scientists, educators and child advocacy groups.
Videos of the talks are availble on the Sackler YouTube Channel here.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Sackler Welcome Reception
Distinctive Voices Lecture
Megan Moreno, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Session I: Digital Media and Children by Development Stages
Welcome – Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra, Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Understanding Media’s Impact on Infants and Toddlers – a Pediatrician’s Perspective, Dimitri Christakis, Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute
Panel: Research on the Impact of Digital Media on Early Childhood
Moderator: Dan Anderson, Children and Media Lab, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Panelists:
Rachel Barr, Georgetown University
Heather Kirkorian, Cognitive Development and Media Lab, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Sarah Lytle, University of Washington
Virtually True: Children’s Acquisition of False Memories in Virtual Reality, Jeremy Bailenson, Stanford University
New Research Methodologies in Studying Digital Media and Adolescents, Michael Rich, Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital
Lunch Workshops: Industry Issues At Hand
1. A New Research and Industry Paradigm
What can child development experts and researchers teach industry about the practical relevance of their research? What works and what doesn't work? What do we know about child development, and how do we use that to create age appropriate content to optimize kids' development? How can media creators deal with some of the unintended consequences -- and teach researchers about what kids are "really doing" and why.
2. Where’s the Privacy in Digital Childhood?
We know children spend hours of their day online, playing games, watching and creating media, and communicating with their friends. But do we know how much data is collected about them, what kind, and by whom? How should privacy policies change to address the rights of children and their parents? Is industry balancing its ability to create ever more personally customized online experiences with the special privacy needs of children?
3. Moving the Needle - Building a Better Digital World
The digital universe can be the most powerful tool we have to broaden our kids’ perspectives and cultivate their awareness of the world around them. What are the best strategies to create content to enrich the internet environment so that its used for positive social contributions? How can we be more proactive in creating educational or prosocial content for making the world a better place? How can we make the internet less distracting, more enriching?
4. Driving While In-text-icated
What are the latest statistics/trends among teens texting while driving? As automakers rush to develop new technologies to improve safety, what is on the horizon to prevent distracted driving from cellphone use among adolescents? To what extent has AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign resulted in behavior modification?
Panel: Digital Media and the Social Lives of Tweens and Teens
Moderator: Amanda Lenhart, Pew Research Center’s Internet Project
Panelists:
Carrie James, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Kathryn Montgomery, American University
Elizabeth Englander, Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, Bridgewater State University
Victor Strasburger, Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Lynn Schofield Clark, Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies; University of Denver
Session II: Digital Media and Cognitive Development
Panel: Digital Learning
Moderator: Jeremy Roschelle, Center for Technology in Learning SRI International
Panelists:
Naomi Baron, American University
Mimi Ito, Digital Media and Learning Hub at University of California, Irvine
John Pane, RAND Corporation
James Pellegrino, University of Illinois
Media and ADHD-related symptoms, Patti Valkenburg, University of Amsterdam
Panel: Does Media Multitasking Change the Structure of the Developing Brain?
Moderator: David Meyer, Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory, University of Michigan
Panelists:
Anthony Wagner, Stanford Memory Lab, Stanford University
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, Strategic Business Insights
Larry Rosen, California State University, Dominguez Hills
Melina Uncapher, Stanford University
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Working breakfast - Roundtable discussions of the following themes:
1. Finding the Pulse
Learn about the latest tools and software that can help advance the science of
children’s media research and discuss what barriers and challenges still exist.
2. Go Fund It!
Have a bi-directional conversation with federal and private foundation
stakeholders about how to mobilize funding on this topic at a large scale.
3. A Backstage Pass
Have a tète a tète with some of your favorite speakers and panelists!
4. Educate Their App-etite!
Discover how to tell which apps can actually educate children and which offer
mostly entertainment.
5. The Young and the Mobile
Join researchers as we explore questions of how young is too young, how play
is being transformed and how screen time affects the neuro-cognitive and language development, memory, and attention of very young children.
Session III: Digital Media and Social/Emotional/Physical Development
Panel: What Does Science Tell Us About Violent Videogames?
Moderator: L. Rowell Huesmann, University of Michigan
Panelists:
Craig A. Anderson, Center for the Study of Violence, Iowa State University
Tom Hummer, Indiana University School of Medicine
Jay G. Hull, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College
Barbara Krahe, University of Potsdam, Germany
Angela Campbell, Institute for Public Representation, Georgetown University School of Law
Texting and its impact on face-to-face communication in Adolescents, Sherry Turkle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Initiative on Technology and Self
Panel: Digital Immersion in Children and Adolescents – Addiction or Obsession?
Moderator: Charles O’Brien, University of Pennsylvania
Panelists:
Douglas Gentile, Media Research Lab, Iowa State University
Kimberly Young, Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, St. Bonaventure University
David Strayer, Applied Cognition Lab, University of Utah
Megan Moreno, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Stephanie Brown, The Addictions Institute
Koh Young-Sam, Executive Principal of National Information Society Agency, Internet Addiction Counseling Center, South Korea
Poster Flash Talks
Poster Session
Panel: Digital Media and Psychological/Emotional/Physical Development in Adolescents
Moderator: Harold Koplewicz, Child Mind Institute
Panelists:
Charles A. Czeisler, Harvard Medical School
Dan Romer, Adolescent Communication Institute, Annenberg Public Policy Center
Jason Chein, Temple University
Adam Gazzaley, University of California, San Francisco
Thomas Robinson, Stanford University
Closing Remarks - Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra, Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Documentary Films: Perils and Promises of our Wired World
THE WEB
Researcher, Dr. Morgan Ames Director; discussion will be moderated by Dafna Lemish, Southern Illinois University
WEB documents the experience a group of children in remote villages in the Amazon Jungle and Andes Mountains who gain access to computers and the internet with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. Alongside the poignant and sometimes humorous local stories, WEB includes interviews with leading thinkers on the internet including Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley, Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales, and OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte.
SECOND SKIN
Director, Juan Carlos Piñeiro Escoriaza; discussions will bemoderated by Patricia Greenfield, Children's Digital Media Center, University of California, Los Angeles
Second Skin takes an intimate, disturbing look at three diverse sets of computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by the emerging genre of computer games called Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). Second Skin focuses on a couple who met in a virtual world, an addict whose life was ruined by MMOs, and a group of MMO gamers who spend most of their lives inside virtual worlds.
Friday, Oct 16, 2015
Review of Group Process & Logistics of the Day – Melina Uncapher, UCSF and Stanford University
Working Groups
Participants will break up in small groups to brainstorm and flesh out a prioritized future research agenda concerning the impact of digital media on children and adolescents that have been proposed by workgroups during the year.
Small group discussions leaders:
• Jane Brown, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
• Sandra Calvert, Children’s Digital Media Center, Georgetown University
• Dimitri Christakis, Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute
• Rebecca Collins, RAND Corporation
• Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, University of Southern California
• Carrie James, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Kathryn Montgomery, American University
• Michael Rich, Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital
• Vicky Rideout, VJR Consulting
• Rosemary Truglio, Education and Research, Sesame Workshop
• Melina Uncapher, UCSF and Stanford University
• Barbara Wilson, University of Illinois
Public Facing Recommendations: Guidelines to Parents, Healthcare Providers, Media, Educators, and Policy Makers
Facilitator: Jane Brown, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Highlights of Sessions
Concluding Remarks – Ellen Wartella, Northwestern University School of Communication
