This is Part 5 of a 5 part video blog (vlog) series where we will be looking at trying to change the narrative of how we speak to our kids about technology. We will look at current ways parents talk to teens about tech and then look at a new narrative that teens will respond to better. We need to move from telling to teaching. Today we look at a new way to talk to our kids around the conversations on Video games.
What a great question. How have your viewing habits changed since Netflix?
Netflix is the new heroin. Hyperbole? Barely.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Renee Carr explains, “The neural pathways that cause heroin and sex addictions are the same as addiction to binge-watching. Your body does not discriminate against pleasure. It can become addicted to any activity or substance that consistently produces dopamine.”
According to Deloitte research, 70% of consumers binge-watch an average of five episodes in one sitting. Another study found that those ages 14-33 binge watch an average of 5 hours in a single sitting. When you stop and think about these stats there is only one way to define them: addiction.
I was going to write a blog this week on the new Screen Controls Apple added in their new operating system (iOS12). This morning this article came through from the people at Screenagers and it is fantastic.
The goal of using something like this is to not over-parent, over-control, but to set up systems that help lessen the parent-child conflict. For example, rather than track down your tween to get the phone at, say, 9 pm, the phone can be configured to have all apps go off at 9 pm, including texting.
Adopting any new technology often sends chills down my spine. For those of you who feel the same way, I’ve included step-by-step instructions below on how to set this up. You and your child’s devices both have to be set up for this to work.
Click here for the entire article.
Please don’t buy into all of the “Sky is falling” emails saying you must to delete these apps off of your kid’s phones or else. Talk to your kids about apps, just don’t delete them. Common sense and teaching our kids proper use of technology must rule over fear.
Parents often message me talking about their kids and their addiction to their phones. We rarely talk about the phone use of us as parents.
Yet for all the talk about children’s screen time, surprisingly little attention is paid to screen use by parents themselves, who now suffer from what the technology expert Linda Stone more than 20 years ago called “continuous partial attention.” This condition is harming not just us, as Stone has argued; it is harming our children. The new parental-interaction style can interrupt an ancient emotional cueing system, whose hallmark is responsive communication, the basis of most human learning. We’re in uncharted territory.
Really interesting article. What are your thoughts?
Click here for the entire article.
I do not think most of us realize just how much time we spend each day on our phones. As a parent, we need to teach our kids about healthy use of technology. I think this is something that we have to model well for our kids so learning how much time we as adults spend on our phones is also helpful. I challenge each of us in our families to install this app I talk about in this short video and get some real data for your family.
