Parenting in the Digital Age
Offered as a collaborative effort of Glencoe District 35
&
Family Service of Glencoe
On Thursday, October 11th Family Service of Glencoe, Glencoe District 35 and Dr. Georgia Bozeday (Executive Director of Rush Neurobehavioral Center) invited parents of 4th through 8th grade students to discuss:
- The research on screen time and brain development
- The apps and tools our children are using
- Tips to support our children and parents in this digital age
The more we learn about the impact of screen time, the better we can serve our children.
Parenting in a Digital Age - Supporting Materials
Sample Device Use Contracts
- Tessa's Revised iPhone Contract (featured in "Screenagers")
- Gregory's iPhone Contract (shared by Janell Burley Hofmann)
- Child & Parent Contract from Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI)
- Alexander's Technology Use Contract (shared by NTHS twp family)
- Family Media Plan (Healthychildren.org)
When it comes to digital addiction, kids aren’t the only ones who have a problem—and that can take a toll on the whole family. Below are suggested readings on the tech habits of parents.
Suggested Resources to support Self-Regulation & Responsibility when using your devices.
Resources to Help Manage Family Devices
- Use parental controls on your child's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iOS 11 or lower
- Use Screen Time to get insights about how the device is being used and set parental controls
- Set up parental controls on Google Play for Android devices
- Use Family Link to add supervision to your child’s existing Google Account on any device.
- OurPact is a catch-all family locator and screen time management app.
Family Online Safety Institute's Good Digital Parenting provides tips, tools and rules to confidently navigate the online world with your kids.
Common Sense helps parents lay the groundwork for responsible cell phone use and manage the challenges and opportunities they bring.
Could you become addicted to playing video games?
Some experts think people can become addicted to playing video games, much in the same way people are addicted to physical substances, but is that really possible? If you are a gamer, what motivates you to play? How do you resist temptation when you need to? If you don't play video games, is there another behavior that you think it would be possible to be addicted to?
6 Underground Apps Students Hide
Despite the best efforts of parents and educators, children can–and do–get into sticky situations with technology. And as everyone knows, things you post online, in group chats, or send in text messages don’t disappear if you delete them.
Education Week has compiled a list of apps adults might want to know about, not in an effort to alarm parents and teachers, but rather to inform them of the threats that accompany technology ownership and use.
Sherry Turkle is the director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self and the author of Reclaiming the Conversation, The Power of Talk in a Digital Age and Alone Together. The websites dedicated to her books include NPR interviews, articles, and TED Talks on her research.
Additional Readings:
- NY Times Book Review "Reclaiming Conversations." Click HERE to learn more about Turkle's "Reclaiming the Conversation."
- "Stop Googling. Let's Talk" by Sherry Turkle / NY Times
- "Alone Together" by Sherry Turkle