Top Tips for Educators to Help Students & Parents with Technology (video)

A few days ago I had the opportunity to join Mathew Meyers once again for a presentation about technology. Specifically, our presentation was designed to help teachers understand ways to help students and their parents use technology in a balanced and appropriate way. This conversation is one that I’ve had in the past with Mathew—last spring we recorded two parent webinars on this topic. (Watch Part I or Part II of Parenting in the Digital Age). In this latest presentation, we cover some of the same topics with teachers that we addressed with parents, but focus more from the perspective of how teachers and educators can help students and parents. A more detailed outline is listed below.

We all want our students to have safe, healthy, and responsible relationships with technology. Mathew points out that

“adults don’t have a template for this—we really are historically blind with how we lead people into a safe, healthy relationship with technology. Parents and educators don’t have the wisdom of those who came before us in regards to how to raise kids with technology. We need to be thoughtful and mindful about how we are engaging with technology. It is resetting how we do relationships, human development, important to be thoughtful so the the implications aren’t detrimental to our future.”  

The K-12 school years are the opportune time to help students learn to have  healthy relations with the technology in their lives, and educators play a critical role in helping with this. As the lines between personal and school related technologies becoming increasingly blurred, it is more important than ever that today’s students hear about these topics in the school setting. 

Watch the presentation recording in full or skip ahead to a section:

Introduction

Staff-Student-Parent Triangle

Parent Anxiety, The Device is Not the Problem, the Importance of Alignment and Working as a Team to Help Students, The Power of a Phone Call vs. Email

Screen Time & Balance

Entertainment vs. Educational Screen Time

Attention & Focus, Addiction

Two Different Attention Systems

Turning off notifications

Addictive apps like a pocket slot machine

Stopping Cues & Natural Consequences

Humans are finite, but technology/computers can work forever

Look for logical breaks, incremental time

Using Apple Guided Access

Address the behavior vs. taking away technology

Allowing failure, letting go

Modeling & Personal Balance

Being present—be where your feet are

Relationships & Social Media

FOMO vs. JOMO

What age should a child get a smartphone?

What age to start using social media?

Relationships, Connection, and Rice Cakes

Next Steps

Resources

Mathew’s blog, Relationships That Heal

Also, if you are in the Minnetonka area, check out Mathew’s upcoming parent workshops on Teens & Technology through Minnetonka Community Education: 

• October 10 - What Kids Do on the Internet and its Impact on Development

• October 17 - Identify Strategies to Keep Technology from Controlling Your Family

• October 24 - Taking Back Control – Create a Family Digital Strategy

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