I know that you want to make it a magical and memorable Christmas or Hanukkah. But please, do yourself and your child a favor: do not buy them a smartphone as a gift. (And please tell Santa to hold off as well.)
Reasons include: increased suicide risk, exposure to pornography, decreased attention, health problems, and more!
Tune in each day from now until Christmas for 50 reasons to delay buying your child a phone.
It’s not like your 12-year old boy wakes up one day and decides to be a woman hater.
It often starts with memes. Kids trade texts with thinly veiled misogyny, homophobia, and racism and pass it off as humor.
Then they start watching “self help” videos on Youtube about getting fit, earning money, and attracting women.
That’s when it starts to turn dark…
While reading “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” it’s easy to infer that Roald Dahl was disgusted by the way children were changing from the new technology of his time.
I can relate.
If Roald Dahl, (and Willy Wonka) are disgusted by the new breed of television-obsessed brats, (in 1964) then what would they like children to do instead of TV?
Well, I believe is best said in the words of Dahl’s most memorable creations, the Oompa-Loompas…
Podcast guest Emily Cherkin jokes that, “Parenting is the judgiest sport I’ve ever played…From day one, you’re being judged about how you diaper, how you feed, how you sleep. And that in and of itself is exhausting. But but wait until the screen time stuff comes up.”
How can a hashtag be dangerous?
By putting a hashtag on your child’s photo, it makes it potentially accessible to a pedophile with one simple click.
Pedophiles and predators need not spend hours searching for scantily-clad children, when they can click #nakedbabies, #toddlerbikinis, or #bathtimefun for thousands of photos.
You may have created a unique hashtag for your specific child, but beware that if someone takes a liking to your kid…
Before you wake up on Day 1 of summer in a cold sweat, check out these 4 questions to discuss as a family that will really help give structure to those long school-less days.
Thanks to Andrea Davis of “Better Screen Time” who told our podcast that the key to a successful summer is…
It’s just play, right?
“The first thing is for children to listen to what their body is telling them. That is so important because now you think of a teenager who is at a party who feels the pressure from a peer to have an experience that maybe they’re not ready for.
And if they can start to recognize in early childhood what that feels like, and how they get out of it, then they’re going to have that skill in adolescence and adulthood and all of the encounters we’re going to have as humans later in life,” says Sally Swaitek in Episode 5 of…
In her practice, therapist Tessa Stuckey started recognizing a trend about 6 years ago.
“Kids would come to me with typical life stressors, mom got mad at them, they didn’t empty their dishwasher, or they made a C on a chemistry exam. Typical life stressors. But their go-to answer was always a dark, dark thought, whether that be self-harm or suicidal thinking.”
Tessa started investigating and found that “every single one of them had issues that were rooted back to an overuse of unhealthy screens or social media.”
Screen Less Play More podcast Episode 4 is available now!
Tech and relationship expert Ty Tashiro talks about online dating, awkwardness, digital parenting, and what we can do to find true love in this tech age!
Ty is the author of “Awkward: The Science of Why We’re Socially Awkward and Why That’s Awesome,” and “The Science of Happily Ever After: What Really Matters in the Search for True Love.”
His interview on the podcast helps us understand why we are awkward, how technology is helping and hurting that, and how to be less awkward! He helps us improve our friendships, and learn how we can use psychology to hack the online dating app system!
Kat Zilka was a high school teacher who realized that her students were in a real mental health crisis. She asked her students to write an essay about their relationship to their phones, and was shocked to read their confessions. “Honestly, if you were to read the essays and insert another substance, like alcohol or drugs into, in place of the phone or in place of social media, it would have been addicts crying for help.” She tells us all about it in Episode 1.
Episode two is a fantastic conversation with Erin Loechner, author of “The Opt-Out Family: How to Give Your Kids What Technology Can’t.” Erin teaches us how to be more engaging than the algorithm! She has tons of great ideas on how to use the tricks of big tech in a low-tech way to bring your family some fun, connection, and meaning.
Episode 3 helps us answer the question “What’s the best way for students to prep for the SAT?”
This episode should not be missed if you have a child in middle school or high school. Charlotte Winters has been an SAT tutor for 15 years, and teaches us that SAT prep isn’t as difficult or complicated as we think it is. Our talk explores the differences between the SAT and ACT, the significance of the PSAT, and how parents can…
