Showing posts with label Balance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Balance. Show all posts

Friday, April 16, 2021

Parenting in the Digital Age: Finding a Healthy Balance Webinar Recording (60 minutes)


On April 27 I joined Mathew Meyers once again to discuss parenting in the digital age.  Mathew and I have held three previous talks over the past four years (recordings linked below). He is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist at Traverse Counseling & Consulting, GBC. I have great respect for Matt and always learn a lot from our conversations about parenting and maintaining a healthy balance with technology. The hour webinar recording is above. This was the advertised description:
 
TikTok, Snapchat, Fortnite, YouTube and more ... Technology is a big part of our kids’ world! Keeping up can be challenging, but a positive and well-informed approach can have a big impact on a child’s future and habits. Learn how to help kids develop a balanced and healthy use of technology from an early age and keep this up through the secondary school years and beyond.

Get tips and ideas for parenting and understand the significant role you play in helping your kids be responsible and safe in today’s high-tech world. Numerous ideas and free resources will be shared, and time for Q & A will be provided. 

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Friday, January 1, 2021

2021: Five Easy New Year's Resolutions to (Re)Gain a Healthy Balance with Technology

Free image from Pixbay

2020 was…a lot! I think it’s generally understood by just about everyone that the past year has been a challenging one. So for this year’s first post, it seems fitting to (re)start with five easy New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 to (re)gain a healthy balance with Technology in your life. The first two are new ones for me and the others are continuations of past resolutions:
  1. Spend less time checking the news. The past year’s political elections and pandemic news among other things has provided for plenty of headlines and stories. I realized I was getting mentally burned out from spending too much time scrolling, scanning, refreshing and re-scanning news headlines throughout the day. I’ve tried a break from news in the past on a vacation, but now I want to limit it in my day to day living. One tip to help: Use Apple Screen Time to limit your own time in on Apple News and other apps.

  2. Have a community discussion around the the Social Dilemma, a great documentary produced by the Center for Humane Technology, similar to the LIKE documentary which we have shown in Minnetonka four times. If you haven't seen it yet, make the time to watch it with your family and discuss it, then get others to join in the conversation.

  3. Start a Facebook/Insta/Twitter/TikTok social media fast or at least reduce your daily time on each--I'm now finishing year five on a social media fast, with only a check of Twitter a couple times per week. Do this to gain another 40+ days of time in 2021.

  4. Take control of your phone by keeping off as many notifications as possible--I've done this for six years and counting. 

  5. Have Device Free Dinners as a family and recording daily gratitudes--I'm now in my fourth year and so glad I started this.
I also resolve to resume more regular blog posts. This is post #275. While I’ve been fortunate to remain healthy, dealing with COVID in the education world has been the biggest challenge we’ve faced in my past 26 years working in education. As evidence to this, my previous six+ years of weekly blog posts dropped to only 14 posts in 2020—and only six of those were since March 2020 when in-person school was shut down by our governor. 

Looking for more tech-related resolutions to help you (re)gain a healthy balance?  Watch My 20 Minute Ed Talk: Screen Time & Student Well-being and read related posts:

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Location: Excelsior, MN 55331, USA

Monday, October 26, 2020

Back by Popular Demand: LIKE Documentary + Expert Panel


Back by popular demand, Minnetonka is hosting a fourth (virtual online) screening of the compelling documentary LIKE followed by a discussion panel on Thursday, November 12, from 7-8:30 pm.

Last year, more than 800 K-12 parents and all Minnetonka students in grades 6-12 saw this powerful film about the very real effects social media can have on our lives. Watching/re-watching this film together will help continue conversations. Even parents of elementary students found the film incredibly valuable to see as they set up guidelines for their children around the use of personal technology tools. LIKE captures interviews with students, parents, psychologists, doctors and experts from a wide-range of fields and perspectives.  

This time, we are adding a panel discussion with experts featured in the film who will share ideas and resources to help parents and students work toward a healthy relationship with social media, personal technology, and entertainment screen time. Panelists include:
  • Max Stossel, Head of Education & Content at Center for Humane Technology

  • Dr. Jerry Bubrick, Senior Psychologist at Child Mind Institute

  • Scilla Andreen, CEO and Co-Founder of IndieFlix 

  • Dave Eisenmann, Director of Instructional Technology for Minnetonka Schools

RSVP on our District Digital Health & Wellness website to reserve a spot for the free screening or to receive access to a recording of the event for 48 hours afterwards. On the webpage, you may also view trailers of the film, watch a 20 minute talk I gave about managing screen time and setting technology guidelines, and view numerous tips and resources around iPads and more.

Thank you for your help discussing these topics with your students and family!

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        Monday, May 18, 2020

        Excellent Pandemic Parent Digital Well-Being Guidelines from The Center for Humane Technology

        Recently Max Stossel, Head of Education for the Center for Humane Technology, worked with child health experts to create some great digital well-being guidelines for parents during the COVID pandemic. I have a picture of the main guidelines below, but be sure to visit their site so you can expand each guideline and learn more. These guidelines nicely point out the importance of understanding the how and why behind technology tools and apps: how they work to grab our attention, sway our opinions, alter our emotions and affect our relationships. There’s no time better than now with extra space on our schedules to make time to discuss the role of technology in our lives and become more cognizant of our use—“Techcognition” as I've called it.
         
        Source
        Use some of your extra pandemic free time to discuss these important topics with your kids! 

         Note: Max was the narrator of the "Like" Documentary About the Impact of Social Media we showed to all Minnetonka 6-12 grade students and parents this year. If you haven't seen the LIKE documentary, consider watching Max Stossel's 45 minute recorded student assembly and/or 60 minute parent presentation here. It's almost the identical content, just not professionally produced like the documentary which included interviews and graphics, etc.

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        Wednesday, May 13, 2020

        Make the Most of Extra Pandemic Screen Time: Keep Entertainment In Check!

        Our family has an enormous amount of free time due to canceled activities  during the COVID-19 pandemic. My wife and I are no longer like passing ships shuttling kids between sports practices, music concerts, school events, church activities and more. Even though we are missing friends and activities, we have found the extra time to be a gift, enjoying relaxed, less stressful evenings and weekends together. We especially cherish the extra time with our college daughter who is once again at the dinner table. We all spend more time on walks, playing games, doing puzzles, completing house projects, reading and of course, time with entertainment technology, social media and reading the latest news.

        Despite all the extra time we still work to keep a healthy balance with our use of entertainment technology. We limit the amount of shows and movies we watch, the amount of time playing video games and time consuming social media and news. We have increased the amount of entertainment screen time per day by an hour--from about 90 minutes per weekday to around two and a half hours--but still have “guardrails” in place.         We continue to use Apple Screen Time Restrictions to limit the time spent on non-educational technology. Rather than have unlimited access, our kids have an hour for non-violent video games like Minecraft and an hour for Netflix. Our high school kids also have 30 minutes a day for social media. We also consider the content on the screen--whether or not it is engaging vs. mindless entertainment--and make exceptions to our guidelines as necessary.

        Perhaps you haven’t set up any guardrails and much of your free time while sheltering in place is consumed by entertainment technology, social media & news. It’s not too late to make some changes! Years from now when things are back to “normal” (and you have a fully booked calendar), it would be great to think back to this time as something that brought your family closer together, rather than something that was simply endured. Make the most of it now!

        You may also want to check this article         on Screen Time in the Age of Coronavirus from another one of my favorite resources, Common Sense Media.

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        Monday, January 27, 2020

        Social Media & Parenting Panel Discussion in Minnetonka March 12



        As a follow up to our three parent screenings in Minnetonka of the powerful LIKE documentary this year, we are offering a panel discussion about the film and the impact of social media on our lives. On the evening of March 12, Minnetonka parents can engage in small group discussions with others about ways to support healthy technology use, include kids in the conversation and successfully implement changes. Panelists will share tips and ideas to help and answer questions. Panelists include Mathew Meyers, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Cindy Andress, Minnewashta Elementary Principal, Paula Hoff, Minnetonka Middle School West Principal, and Jeff Erickson, Minnetonka High School Principal. I'll moderate the panel. Parents can RSVP on our District Digital Health & Wellness page.

        One of many screenings of LIKE in Minnetonka.
        Minnetonka students in grades 6-12 saw this documentary during school this year; grades 7, 8 and 10 viewed it in November, and grades 6, 9, 11 and 12 view it in February. The hope is that seeing the film will help spark informed conversations about social media use and help guide everyone toward a healthy relationship with social media, personal technology, and entertainment screen time. Here is the handout that accompanied the film, Tips for Managing Social Media Use, as well as numerous tips and resources below. 

        If you haven't seen the LIKE documentary, consider watching Max Stossel's 45 minute recorded student assembly and/or 60 minute parent presentation here. He's the star/narrator of the LIKE film and the Head of Education for the Center for Humane Technology. It's almost the identical content, just not professionally produced like the documentary which included interviews and graphics, etc.
        Thanks for your help discussing these topics with your students and family!
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        Thursday, September 26, 2019

        Minnetonka Screening "Like" Documentary About the Impact of Social Media


        In our continued efforts to help our children (and ourselves) practice a healthy balance with our use of technology, Minnetonka Schools will be hosting a parent screening of a new documentary about the impact of social media on our lives called Like on November 13, January 27 and 31. (If you're in the area you can RSVP here and claim a free ticket). All students in grades 6-12 will also see the film this year as part of their health curriculum. 


        I first learned about the film early this summer and previewed it with one of our principals. Then I pulled together a group of about 30 others         to see it (principals, health teachers, counselors, media specialists, administrators and others). They confirmed its value and we discussed how to have our students and parents see it. Our health teachers liked the direct ties into their curriculum on relationships and the role of technology in our lives. Guidance counselors and administrators liked its messages about the impact of social media. Everyone agreed that it could be a helpful way to further educate both our students and their families and promote a healthier relationship with personal technology. 

        Pros
        Overall the film is really well done. It has a nice balance of interviews with students as well as experts. The film relays information about the purposeful design of social media apps to get us to use them more, a message that the Center for Humane Technology is working to inform the greater public about. This is an organization that I have been following and written about previously. The film includes interviews with Max Stossel, Head of Education & Content. It ends with an updated version of the Panda is Dancing short clip that Max stars in from a few years ago. The film also interviews the co-founder of the "Like" button on Facebook, Leah Pearlman, and discusses the effects of this numeric value on our interactions.

        The film does a great job of educating the viewer on these important topics. The film not only addresses some negative effects of social media and phone use but also highlights positives, as well as suggests steps to take to regain a balanced and more healthy use. This is something other films I've seen haven't done and therefore we've avoided showing our community because they basically were too fear mongering and would not help bring change.


        Post screening surveys were very positive about the film. As shown in the chart, 100% of parents agreed that the film was informative and worth seeing. Parents also listed many things they had learned from the film that they plan to implement.
         
        Cons
        Unfortunately one part of the film that is not helpful is a short, misleading 3 minute section on "Technology in the Classroom." They interview the principal of a middle school that is going phone free with expensive magnetic locking cell phone pouches for kids to carry around. They quote the often cited myth that Silicon Valley executives send their kids to tech free schools--including Steve Jobs--whose children were in school prior to the iPhone and iPads. Yes, a small percentage do, but relative to the thousands of executives in SV it's a very small number. Be sure to read Carl Hooker's blog post related to this about Technology Fear Therapy for Parents and Schools. At least at the end of these three minutes they acknowledge that creativity and intuition can happen "in conjunction with machines." When I spoke with Scilla Andreen, the CEO and Co-Founder of IndieFlix, I encouraged her to cut this section out. Any screening of LIKE should point out these misleading blanket statements and myths. 

        More info
        During the screening, I paused the film three times and gave the attendees a few minutes for discussion with others around them on some questions I posted on the screen. At the end I also shared a number of tips and ideas from my own family to work toward a healthy relationship with social media, personal technology, and entertainment screen time. You can watch a nearly identical recording of that presentation here: My 20 Minute Ed Talk: Screen Time & Student Well-being

         As a follow up to our screenings of LIKE, we are holding a Social Media & Parenting Panel Discussion in Minnetonka on March 12.

         In addition to the trailer linked above, here are two other for the film bit.ly/LikeTrailer2 and bit.ly/LikeTrailer3. To learn about the Like documentary, visit thelikemovie.com.

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