Tech Generation
Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Parents often worry about raising kids in a tech-saturated world - the threats of cyberbullying, video game violence, pornography, and sexting may seem inescapable. And while these dangers exist, there is a much more common and subtle way that technology can cause harm: by eroding our attention spans. Focused attention is fundamental to maintaining quality relationships, but our constant interaction with screens and social media is shortening our attention spans - which takes a toll on our personal connections with friends and family and our ability to form real relationships.
Tech Generation: Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World guides parents in teaching their children how to reap the benefits of living in a digital world while also preventing its negative effects. Mike Brooks and Jon Lasser, psychologists with extensive experience working with kids, parents, and teachers, combine cutting-edge research and expertise to create an engaging and helpful guide that emphasizes the importance of the parent-child relationship. They reject an "all or nothing" attitude towards technology, in favor of a balanced approach that neither idealizes nor demonizes the digital. Brooks and Lasser provide strategies for preventing technology from becoming problematic in the first place; steps for addressing problems when they arise; and ways of intervening when problems are out of control. They also discuss the increasingly challenging issue of technology use in schools, and how parents can collaborate with educators when concerns arise over kids' use of technology.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Educational psychologists Brooks and Lasser have created a serviceable, if less than timely, handbook showing families how to get the best from technology while minimizing its negative effects. Their Tech Happy Life model, with its color-coded levels green for preventing problems, yellow for addressing emerging concerns, and red for intervening when things get difficult or dangerous calls for "warm" yet limit-setting and "authoritative" parenting. They set the scene by warning that when kids' screen-time gets "out of balance," the result is sleep loss, distractibility, diminished face-to-face interaction, shorter attention span, decreased productivity, limited physical activity, loss of interest in recreational activities, and a decreased sense of well-being. The allure of the screen is powerful and ever-present, the authors write, and uncooperative kids who won't relinquish their devices may isolate themselves or underperform at school. But, Brooks and Lasser say, if parents model good behavior by limiting their own screen time, communicate effectively, set appropriate boundaries, and levy consequences, they will help kids learn self-regulation and achieve balance on their own. Plenty of other books have already addressed the screen-time issue, often in greater detail, but parents should find Brooks and Lasser's advice to be easily understood and solidly commonsensical.
