Seven practices to curate a world for kids
And, why being a great curator is so important. Happy National Media Literacy Education Week!
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How do you change the world in one generation? By filling minds of our young with beauty. We have at our thumb-tips an ocean of such things, but to find it there’s one master skill we need most of all: curation.
Curators zip past distraction, slice through choice overload, and help us fill our attention with spirited experiences. The ancient sense of the word “curator" suggests holding responsibility for the care of souls, of the spiritual welfare of a whole population. Pretty deep of a responsibility.
To me, curating means being intentional about what comes into your mind, your home, your phone. Today, in honor of National Media Literacy Education Week, I’ll share 7 ideas on how we can all curate a world in the best interests of children — for anyone who has kids in their lives.
Curating for youth is so important; so many companies target kids, and there is so much stuff out there. Algorithms are only too willing to do curatorial legwork for us. But when we leave it to up to Netflix and the App store, they’ll easily hypnotize kids with dull, carelessly-wrought time-wasters. The good stuff requires the discernment of an actual human being with a body, a sensitive mind, and a beating, loving heart.
How to curate a world that works for kids: 7 ideas
1. Curate your own life according to youth-friendly values
Think of your life, your house, your mind, your smartphone as a museum. Is it filled with beautiful things and people that you'd like the children in your life to discover?
If not, what purpose are they serving? Which objects, people, thoughts, or past-times might you want to prune and discard — which ones do you want more of?
Applying this has led me to stop using conventional social media, stop reading panicky, fear-mongering news media, and commit to 100% nonviolent content.
2. Search, don’t browse
Extraordinary things are out there — you just have to unplug from the newsfeed long enough to figure out how to ask for them. The capacity of our search power tools is mind-blowing. Once you decide to stop passively browsing, a vastly bigger and more beautiful world opens up.
Search engines, and AI helpers, are powered by our consciousness, our curiosity, our ability to translate our needs into a precise question. As curators, we can practice asking specific questions. What is the thing you really need, want, are missing, wish to know?
Here’s an example: "What is a better alternative to Angry Birds for a six year old?" I used that question as a starting point — and to my delight, by way of Common Sense Media, eventually found an immersive, enchanting and well-made physics game called World of Goo that has brought the family a lot of enjoyment.
3. Articulate your criteria
In the busy and seductive world of new content and experiences, it’s helpful to identify some parameters that serve as filters for your family. One way to do this is by explicitly writing down your criteria for what you'd share with your child. For instance, here are some of my criteria:
Things that inspire creativity. They let you make your own things (e.g. music, drawing, stories), things that nobody else has imagined before.
Things that invite depth. They invite you to learn through engaging with complexity.
Things that encourage prosociality. Their messages are focused on growth, compassion, and understanding.
Things that have aesthetics. They are attractive, well-crafted; there is attention-to-detail yet they are abstract, inviting imagination.
Things that facilitate a state of flow. They allow the child to become absorbed in a process without interruptions, but can easily be paused without penalty.
Having this list in mind pushes me to sniff out, for instance, appealing toys that invite creating (OctoStudio) and depth exploration (Turing Tumble), YouTubers that open up whole worlds of wonder (like Vi Hart), and thoughtfully made interactive experiences that are more likely to create flow than fragmentation (say, Chrome Music Lab).
4. Build your network of trusted (human) sources
A big part of curating is to stay connected with people who are so close to the pulse of love and art that when they exhale you find out about perfect games, toys, books, apps, and so on.
Sometimes I feel like an impostor because I get credit for bringing cool stuff to my nieces and nephews, but practically all my ideas come from my amazing friend Rebecca, and my friends Nicole & Edward, and a handful of other wonderful informants who have kids around the ages of my nephews and nieces. Thank you all you artful hearts I am so grateful to know!
5. Pre-read, pre-view, playtest
Here's where a curator can really make a difference: by actually playing the game, watching the show, reading the book yourself. (This can be time-consuming; that’s why it’s helpful to be part of a network that shares your values so you can swap notes.)
Getting acquainted with the material not only helps you feel confident that the thing will be great for your kid, it also will give you ideas on how you might explore it with your child. It can be fun too! I fell in love with Catherynne Valentine’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her On Making while pre-reading it for a child.
There are so many benefits of getting close to the things that are part of your kids’ media worlds. It might take several tries, but finding something you both enjoy a lot forms a great bond and can spark many interesting conversations.
6. Amplify and winning discoveries — and keep digging deeper
Not everything you find will “click” — but some things will! I love the feeling of seeing a child rapt, absorbed in something that I know is really worthwhile. It could be as simple as a roll of paper, as straightforward as a well-wrought kids’ cookbook, or as complex as a really sensitively-made multi-player game.
When you find something terrific, help other parents find it! Telling others helps the algorithms will slowly start to catch on and surface more of the good stuff at scale.
And, when you find something that lands, it’s often just the beginning. Find and follow its creators, and often you’ll discover more amazing things. For instance, I discovered the incredible Zometool math building kit while reading up on the prodigious Vi Hart — turns out, it was invented by her father.
7. Credit great curation
Let's build up curation as the master skill that it is.
Let's acknowledge and celebrate all the research, networking, energy, imagination, love, and humility that goes into it. Naming great curators in your conversations online and offline is triply useful because 1) it reinforces how important curators are 2) it encourages curators to continue their work and 3) it helps connect people to them and their great recommendations.
And all that helps us turn this world into a museum of beautiful, child-friendly things.
I’m wondering…
Is there a book, toy, video, game, TV show, or something else that you love that your kid loves? I’d love to hear about it, please reply!
What resources do you rely on to help you curate? Pass your most trusted curatorial sites along!
What challenges or questions do you have when it comes to curating media for kids?
Happy Media Literacy Education Week. If we educate ourselves and our kids on the healthy uses of media and tech, our world will become a happier, saner place.