Social Media Use Among Teens is Increasing
Back in 2012, Common Sense Media, the leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology, published a groundbreaking survey examining the use of technology and social media among young people ages 13-17. The results were shocking in how much children were immersed in technology six years ago. CSM […]
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Should Tech Use be Declared a Public Health Emergency?
Technology has certainly been under scrutiny of late, whether the massive data privacy breaches that have been occurring with alarming frequency, the nefarious use of social media in politics, the internet trolls who have become a sad and inescapable part of our techno-culture, or the tobacco-like cover-ups and disinformation war by Big Wireless as reported […]
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Kids & Screen Time: Two Perspectives
As the author of a book on the impact of technology on children and families, Raising Generation Tech, I have a strong professional interest in the role that the myriad of devices and screen time now found in the hands of children and their parents alike plays in the development of young people and the […]
Read MoreWhy So Many Kids are Bored, Impatient, and Frustrated
I came across this great article that should challenge all parents to ask themselves whether they are preparing their children for life in the “real world.” The article focuses on the reason why so many kids are so easily bored, impatient, frustrated, and struggling socially these days. She provides some spot-on, though somewhat painful, explanations […]
Read MoreAre Smartphones Replacing Drugs?
Here is a fascinating article offering a provocative new theory that the decline in drug use in the past decade is due to the rise in smartphone use. Epidemiological data has demonstrated that young people are using alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs significantly less than 10 years ago. This relationship between drug and smartphone use has […]
Read MoreParents are Worse Than Kids with Media Use
You have probably already heard about the research that found that children spend as much as 7.5 hours a day on non-school-related media. That is a crazy amount of time spent in front of a screen if you do the math of having 24 hours in a day, about 8 hours of sleep, and another […]
Read MoreRaising Generation Tech E-Book is Now Only $2.99
Just a quick note that my latest parenting book, Raising Generation Tech: Preparing Your Children for a Media-Fueled World, is now available as an e-book for only $2.99 from all of your online booksellers. It is a great read for parents who are struggling with when and how much technology you should allow your children […]
Read MoreIs the American Academy of Pediatrics Copping Out on Kids’ Screen Time?
According to a recent article titled, “Pediatricians to tweak ‘outdated’ screen time recommendations for kids,” the American Academy of Pediatrics, that esteemed organization charged with protecting the health and well-being of children, has decided that their recommendations of limited screen time—basically no screen time for children under 2 years old and only two hours a […]
Read MoreHow the Internet is Changing Your Brain
See a fascinating infographic from onlinecoursereport.com (read the basic findings below) that describes how the Internet is changing the way our brain works (for both good and bad). Distracted? 7 Ways the Internet is Changing Our Brains The Internet is a marvelous thing. Games, vast information, shopping, friends, medical advice: all at our fingertips. […]
Read MoreKeep Smartphones Out of Your Kids’ Bedrooms
Here’s a shocking bit of news (note ironic tone) reported in the Huffington Post today: A substantial number of tweens and teens wake up in the middle of the night to either check or post on their social media. Researchers indicated that this habit, found in more than 20% of young people surveyed, disrupted sleep, increased fatigue, […]
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