Tag: social media

Kids News

“Fake News” Is Hard For Kids To Spot

There is a lot of “fake news” on the Internet. A new study shows that many young people in the United States have a hard time telling “real” from “fake” news.
Fake news is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an article that may look just like any other news article–except that it’s not true. Unfortunately, many people can’t tell the difference.

Kids News

Thousands Of People Rally On Facebook To Show Noah That Glasses Are Cool

Lots of people wear glasses to make their vision better, or even just for fashion.

But when Noah, 4, found out he needed glasses, he wasn’t happy about it.

In fact, he was downright sad.

His mother asked him why he was so sad about having to wear glasses.

Noah told her he was worried that everyone would laugh at him.

Noah’s mother started a Facebook page to show Noah that wearing glasses is cool.

She asked people to post pictures of themselves and their kids wearing glasses.

News Technology

Word Of The Year: Selfie

“Selfie” has been named the word of the year.

Oxford Dictionaries chose the word because its usage increased by 17,000 per cent over last year.

A “selfie” is a photo that a person takes of himself, usually with his smart phone.

Have you ever seen a picture of a person that he took by holding his phone out in front of him? That’s a selfie.

A selfie can also be taken in a mirror or with a webcam.

Another term for selfie is “self portrait.”

The term was first used in 2002, in an online chat in Australia.

News Technology

Texters Studied In New Research

The University Of Winnipeg in Manitoba recently tested students to see if their texting habits made a difference to the way they thought.

In one part of the study, 2,300 first-year psychology students completed one-hour online surveys.

The survey asked about what they thought was important to them as well as how often they texted.

The study found that those who texted more than 100 times a day were more interested in being rich and famous than those who texted 50 times or fewer each day.

To heavy texters, an ethical or a moral life was not as important as those who texted 50 or fewer times a day.

Another part of the study tested how students felt about different social, racial and ethnic groups. In this part, some students texted, some spoke on cellphones and some did neither.

Breaking News News Politics

Two Canadian Political Parties In Hot Water Over Use Of Technology

During elections, people often get a recorded message on their telephone that reminds them to vote and tells them where to go, to vote.

These messages, which use pre-recorded voices, are known as robo-calls.

Canada’s federal Conservative party is being accused of using robo-calls to mislead the public, during last year’s election.

The RCMP and Elections Canada (the group that makes the rules for elections), are looking into accusations that some robo-calls steered voters to the wrong polling station, or to polling stations that didn’t even exist, which would be illegal.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he doesn’t know anything about the illegal robo-calls.

Breaking News News Technology

Do You Want to Buy A Piece Of Facebook?

Facebook is the most popular “social networking” website in the world and it may be for sale soon. Or at least part of it.

A “social networking” website is one that lets people meet and chat with each other—not face-to-face, but over the Internet. Facebook and Twitter are two popular social networking websites.

Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook with some university friends in 2004. Recently, he decided to “go public” with Facebook. In this case, that means people he doesn’t even know will be allowed to buy a share (part) of the company.

Right now, Facebook is privately owned by some individuals and companies. Zuckerberg himself owns 24 per cent or almost one-quarter of Facebook–the largest portion.

When a company “goes public,” it is given a value (for instance, Facebook is said to be worth $100-billion) and that value is divided into “shares.” Those shares, which each represent a tiny piece of the value of the company, are then offered for sale.

Xenia Benivolski (l) and Stephanie Guthrie help two kids who have come to make a donation to help Attawapiskat. Image: Joyce Grant
Breaking News Politics

From Our Homes To Theirs – Responding To Attawapiskat

When Xenia Benivolski heard about the problems in Attawapiskat, she wanted to do something to help.

The people in the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat are living in terrible housing conditions, often without heat or running water.

Temperatures there drop to -20C at night.

The community has declared a “state of emergency.”

Benivolski set up a Facebook page, asking people to donate items to help the community.

“Then people started Tweeting it… and it just kind of snowballed,” says Stephanie Guthrie, a friend who is helping with the drive. “You see something (like this) happening and you just can’t not do anything.”