Forum focuses on teens, technology

Teens and digital communication will be the topic of discussion during “The Digital Life of Your Teen” at the Whitefish Community Library May 8 from 4-6 p.m.

Whitefish Middle School Librarian Dana Carmichael invites parents, caretakers, teachers and other patrons to the program. The community discussion will be on the digital information collected on Internet users, legal protections available for Internet use and what are reasonable rules parents can establish with their children who are learning to navigate the rapidly changing world of electronic communication.

“Just as students need less supervision in their daily activities, they begin to need more in their online presence,” Carmichael said. “I want to invite the community to talk about popular tech tools for teens and how to strengthen teens’ ever widening circles of friends to include trusted adults who will praise and steer online activity.”

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a research organization which has been chronicling teenagers use of technology since 2007, 75 percent of all teenagers now have a mobile phone. In addition, more than 80 percent of phone-owning teens also use them to take pictures. Seventy-three percent use social networking sites, mostly Facebook.

The program is brought to the Whitefish community by the Friends of the Whitefish Community Library. For more information on special events at the library, visit www.whitefishlibrary.org or to become a Friend of the Whitefish Community Library, visit www.friendswcl.org.