Show 9: Modern Families & The Digital Age

IN-STUDIO GUESTS: Social networking, smart phones, the internet and instant messaging have always been a part of today's kid's world. All this digital distraction can seriously cut into family time - and, it's not only the kids who are guilty of excess "screen time" these days. Host Shana Sheehy explores the challenges (and the benefits!) of raising a modern family in these high-tech times with guest, Anne Collier, the founder and editor of Net Family News, co-director of ConnectSafely.org and the co-chair of the presidential administration's Online Safety & Technology Working Group. Anne is also the co-author of MySpace Unraveled: A Parent's Guide to Teen Social Networking and she joined us by phone from Luxembourg where she was attending the European Commission's Safer Internet Forum.

Links mentioned on this show:

• Kaiser Family Foundation Study
• Net Family News/ Anne Collier's response to the study
• PBS Talk Tips: Digital Media & Kids (opens as PDF)
• NY Times article: Toddlers' Favorite Toy: The iPhone
• ASD Voices video competition

FEATURED STORIES: While computers are a daily staple in many modern schools, not all institutions are incorporating technology into their curricula. Jessica Cochran visited the Aurora Waldorf School in Anchorage where education gets unplugged.

New contributor, Paul Flahive, reports on the coolest apps for kids, and speaks to Gizmodo.com tech blogger, John Herrman, about the emerging app market for children. He mentions these kid-favorite apps on the show: Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider (both from Duck Duck Moose), Animal Fun, Curious George's Dictionary, Magic Piano by Smule, Star Walk, and My Very First App.

Local writer and mother of two, Leslie Hsu Oh, shares an original essay on the ups and downs of raising, what she calls, "Techno Addicts". Leslie joins KTD! as a new guest blogger on KidsTheseDays.org beginning next week when she will blog all about raising a family in a modern world.