Last year, I started writing a new column for Odyssey magazine. The editor wanted something that would focus on new and future technology, but have an interactive component that would invite readers to participate online. We came up with “YourTech.” The column poses a question relating to that month’s theme, and invites readers to form their own opinions. They can vote online using hashtags: #TechYeah #TechMaybe and #TechNo_Way
I was thrilled to learn that this column will continue to appear in Muse, now that Odyssey has closed.
Here are excerpts from three of my recent columns (with excellent illustrations by Matthew Billington). Kids get to read about both sides of the issue, then decide for themselves if they agree or disagree. It’s difficult sometimes to keep my own opinions out of the way — for example, I personally don’t feel that violent video games are as big of an issue as some do, but pediatric experts advise against them, so I led with that information, then presented several studies that have very different results. Some that link violence in games to aggressive behavior, and others that show that it’s not that simple. (Unexplained game controls led to more aggression than actual violence in one study!)
