This Zuckerberg wants children to use Internet wisely

It’s not unusual for siblings to be rivals. That doesn’t mean they battle over every tiny element in their lives but could be something as simple as doing something with their lives that gets a little more attention.

So, what do you do when you are the older sister of Mark Zuckerberg, the man who linked the world together through the Internet site of Facebook? That’s a tough act to top.

For years Randi Zuckerberg kept pace with her brother through working in the online world. Now, she’s taken a big step to pull the spotlight on herself. Her children’s book, “Dot.,” about an 8-year-old girl with super tech abilities was received so enthusiastically that she sold the concept to the Sprout network as the basis for a series even while the book was in the galleys stage.

“Everything has just moved so fast,” Zuckerberg says.

She has watched her New York Times best seller turned into a series where the very energetic and imagination strong Dot uses technology to power playful discovery with her family, her friends and her best dog Scratch. In each episode, she learns something very important about the real world and about the people around her.

This is the first animated series for Zuckerberg who is also the editor in chief of Dot Complicated, which is a modern lifestyle blog and community.

As for the character of Dot, Zuckerberg admits that the character is a real reflection of herself mixed with her days working in the tech world.

“I would say ‘Dot.’ was based on almost a decade of observations and research working in the tech world. I actually I didn’t set out to write a children’s book. I was writing Dot Complicated, which was my business book at the time,” Zuckerberg says. “I was spending so much time out on the road, speaking, speaking with parents, and no matter what I would get on stage and talk about related to tech and business, everyone afterward wanted to talk to me about their children, about their 2 to 5 year olds and how tech savvy children are.

“So I thought, oh, my gosh, I need to write a book about modern childhood because I’m sitting here, writing a book about being a tech expert — I’m going to get lapped by my 2 year old. So that, to me, I think sparked, and when I looked, there was really nothing else out there like Dot..”

One thing Zuckerberg wants to get across in the book that there should be times during the day when children and parents should unplug. She knows that is hard because the first time she tried to put down all the electronic devices in her life, she had to carry her phone around even though it was shut off.

You can see all the messages in “Dot.” when the series debuts Oct. 22 on Sprout, the cable channel aimed at youngsters.

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 10:21 PM with the headline "This Zuckerberg wants children to use Internet wisely."