Conclusion
President John F. Kennedy said technology “has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man.”1 Swayed by digital-age myths, we are providing our children with remarkably little guidance on their use of technology. Kids are not without direction, however, for our absence has allowed tech corporations to exert tremendous influence over their lives. The result is a wired-for-amusement young generation.
In her book Alone Together, psychologist Sherry Turkle is optimistic that the time is right for improving the lives of kids distanced from their families by distracting technologies. As she says, “I believe we have reached a point of inflection, where we can see the costs and start to take action.”2 I am also hopeful we can make better lives for our children. To achieve this requires that we see through a host of digital falsehoods.
Debunking technology myths is challenging because of popular culture’s incessant positive spin on the wired life. Years ago, the media industry helped expose Big Tobacco myths such as claims that cigarettes weren’t marketed to kids. Now many of the media/tech corporations that bring us our news have a financial stake in selling us on even more gadgets and more screen time. Wise parents will be wary of these sales pitches.
It should be clear from reading this book that an enormous trove of important, objective research on the risks of children overusing technology is being ignored by the news media in favor of headlines touting the latest gadgets. It’s vital that those who bring parents their health information—teachers, journalists, authors, and health providers—look to this research rather than biased sources when providing technology advice for kids. I also suggest that when you—as a parent, teacher, or other caregiver responsible for raising children—look for guidance, that you rely on resources whose providers have the primary aim of child health, not selling more e-stuff.
While much is known about the effects of our children’s use of technology, there is much more that needs to be learned. In the wake of mass shootings perpetrated by boys and young men steeped in violent video games, we need to look more closely at the risks posed by children’s use of interactive violence. I did not focus on the effects of video game violence in this book because my emphasis is on technology myths. It’s difficult to portray benign effects for gaming violence as a myth, since studies show that most parents, along with most pediatricians and psychologists, already agree that virtual violence is contributing to real-life violence in kids.3
America is in fact falling behind other countries in the study of children’s use of technology. Some of the United States’ biggest global competitors—China, South Korea, and Japan—justifiably view their children’s use of entertainment technologies as matters of public health and economic interest. So they fund extensive research in this field, especially on issues of technology addiction. However, in the US, an increasingly powerful video game industry lobby, which spent $18 million in lobbying over the past four years, is thwarting efforts to fund studies on the effects of video gaming on children.4 This must change, as we owe it to our children (and our country) to make sure our kids’ future lives aren’t stunted by the dominance of screens and phones in childhood.
I have made it clear that children’s use of technology is not the problem—instead concern is rightly directed at our kids’ profound overuse of entertainment technologies that displace their involvement with family and school. We do need to help our kids use technology as a tool, to use it productively. This will not be accomplished easily because selling kids fun-based technologies that provide drug-like stimulation and create their own demand is much easier and more profitable than getting our kids to use technology in ways that will improve their future. Addressing this issue will require investment in equipment and teaching resources.
I am hopeful this book accomplished its goal of helping you understand that you are not alone in your struggles with kids’ technology. It’s clear we have a serious problem on our hands, considering the many families I have worked with who inspired the research in this book, along with countless studies that show millions of children and teens are experiencing similar concerns about tech overuse. Looking forward, where can you turn for guidance in a fast-changing tech environment?
I believe that one of our best hopes rests with schools, which are in a unique position to educate students and their parents about how screen and phone technologies are affecting kids’ academic success and emotional health. Schools and teachers now shoulder much of the responsibility for American children’s struggles to compete academically with students from around the world. Wholly ignored is the mountain of digital entertainment kids indulge in at the expense of learning fundamentals. I suggest that schools bring parents and teachers together to discuss (and decide how to change) the appalling reality that our kids spend far more time in front of playtime screens than in school. Unless this shifts, I can’t see US kids catching up to their global peers.
Community, religious, and other organizations that have as their mission raising healthy children and helping families also have a pivotal role to play because they offer forums for fair-minded conversation. When parents, teachers, and others who care for children come together, I suggest one of the first orders of discussion be challenging the digital native-digital immigrant belief that suggests parents have no business guiding their kids’ use of screens and gadgets. We must be the strong and wise caregivers our kids need us to be if we are to lovingly reclaim their childhood in this digital age.
Acknowledgments
I am privileged to have worked with two extraordinary editors. Karen Motylewski’s remarkable vision was vital to shaping the book’s course. Marilyn Elias’ gift for grasping the big picture, but never missing a detail, honed the book’s message and voice. I am also grateful to editors of my earlier writing that became the foundation of this book, including Alison Blake, Beth Bruno, Joe Kelly, Lisa Ross, and Elizabeth Zack.
I am heartened by the generosity of colleagues who have offered their guidance and encouragement on this project. Susan Linn and Josh Golin have been particularly supportive of my efforts to understand the effects of media and technology on children. I am also appreciative of friends who offered their suggestions on the manuscript, including Eve Cervantes, Katy Doran, Judy Haus, and Kristin Powell.
I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked with many caring families in clinical practice, making it through sometimes rough times together. And the team of clinicians I work with every day has taught me a great deal about what’s needed to meet the challenges of improving the lives of children and their families.
My parents, Marion Odell and Stephen Diaz, have done so much to make this endeavor successful, and I am obliged to family friends that provided support along the way, including Monica Lin, Maggie Mariscal, and Lise Wise. The creation of this book would not have been possible without my wife Rae. Her loving support and insight provided both the will and the way for this project to be realized. Our daughters, Madeline and Elena, helped inspire the book’s contents, and the girls’ quiet faith in me helped get me to the end.
Notes
INTRODUCTION
1Apple. (2013). Apple iPhone Christmas commercial 2013. [video]. YouTube. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v76f6KPSJ2w
2Diaz, A. (2014, July 10). See the 2014 Emmy nominees for Outstanding Television Commercial. Advertising Age. Retrieved August 2, 2014, from http://adage.com
3McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken: Why games can make us better and how they can change the world. New York: Penguin; Colbert, S. (Executive Producer). (2011, February 3). The Colbert Report [Television broadcast]. Retrieved February 11, 2014, from http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/373360/feb-ruary-03-2011/jane-mcgonigal; Prensky, M. (2006). “Don’t bother me mom—I’m learning!”: How computer and video games are preparing your kids for 21st century success—and how you can help!. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House
4Note: Data
from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that children’s entertainment-based screen time has swelled from about 5 hours in 1999 to more than 7 ½ hours each day multitasking between various screens in the latest count: Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8-to 18-year-olds. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2014, from http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/8010.pdf
5Note: Figures derived from: Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8-to 18-year-olds. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2014, from http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/8010.pdf
6Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8-to 18-year-olds. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2014, from http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/8010.pdf
7Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
8Prensky, M. (2006). “Don’t bother me mom—I’m learning!”: How computer and video games are preparing your kids for 21st century success—and how you can help!. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.
9Frail, T. A. (2010, August 1) What will America look like in 2050? Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from www. smithsonianmag.com
10Collier, A. (2012, June 5). Facebook access for under-13 kids is good – if parents involved. Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from www.csmonitor.com; Magid, L. (2012, June 4). Letting children under 13 on Facebook could make them safer. Huffington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from www.huffingtonpost.com
11ConnectSafely. (2014). Supporters. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://www.connectsafely.org/about-us/supporters/
12Koepp, M. J., Gunn, R. N., Lawrence, A. D., Cunningham, V. J., Dagher, A., Jones, T., et al. (1998). Evidence for striatal dopamine release during a video game. Nature, 393(6682), 266-268; Weinstein, A. M. (2010). Computer and video game addiction- a comparison between game users and non-game users. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 36(5), 268-276.
13Microsoft Corporation. (2011, November 16). Connecting with technology: Microsoft survey finds technology is bringing families together. Retrieved September 24, 2013, from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2011/nov11/11-16holitechpr.aspx
CHAPTER 1
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2Microsoft Corporation. (2011, November 16). Connecting with technology: Microsoft survey finds technology is bringing families together. Retrieved September 24, 2013, from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2011/nov11/11-16holitechpr.aspx
3Mesch, G. S., & Talmud, I. (2010). Wired Youth: The social world of adolescence in the information age. London: Routledge, p. 31.
4Richards, R., McGee, R., Williams, S. M., Welch, D., & Hancox, R. J. (2010). Adolescent screen time and attachment to parents and peers. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 164(3), 258-262.
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6Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8-to 18-year-olds. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2014, from http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/8010.pdf
7Cavoukian, R. (2013). Lightweb darkweb: Three reasons to reform social media be4 it re-forms us. Canada: Homeland Press, p. 91.
8Arnold, J. E., Graesch, A. P., Ragazzini, E., & Ochs, E. (2012). Life at home in the twenty-first century: 32 families open their doors. Los Angeles: UCLA CIOA Press.
9Wallis, C. (2006, March 27). The multitasking generation. Time. Retrieved October 17, 2012, from www.time.com
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11Nie, N. H., Stepanikova, I., Pals, H., Zheng, L., & & He, X. (2005). Ten years after the birth of the Internet: How do Americans use the Internet in their daily lives? Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society, Retrieved August 10, 2011, from the DocStoc database, p. 12.
12Gardner, A. (2009, June 18). Surging Internet use cutting into family time. US News. Retrieved June 1, 2011, from www.usnews.com
13Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New York: Basic Books, p. 267.
14Steiner-Adair, C., & Barker, T. H. (2013). The big disconnect: Protecting childhood and family relationships in the digital age, Kindle Edition. New York: Harper.
15Ogilvy & Mather, & Communispace. (2011). Tech Fast Forward: Plug in to see the brighter side of life. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from http://assets.ogilvy.com/truffles_email/techfastforward/TechFastForward_PlugIn_Single.pdf; Ogilvy & Mather. (2011, October 20). Embracing technology may brighten mom’s outlook. Retrieved September 24, 2012, from http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/prnewswire/press_releases/Illinois/2011/10/20/NY90682
16Ogilvy & Mather, & Communispace. (2011). Tech Fast Forward: Plug in to see the brighter side of life. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from http://assets.ogilvy.com/truffles_email/techfastforward/TechFastForward_PlugIn_Single.pdf, p. 9.
17Ogilvy & Mather, & Communispace. (2011). Tech Fast Forward: Plug in to see the brighter side of life. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from http://assets.ogilvy.com/truffles_email/techfastforward/TechFastForward_PlugIn_Single.pdf, pp. 21, 39.
18Ogilvy & Mather, & Communispace. (2011). Tech Fast Forward: Plug in to see the brighter side of life. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from http://assets.ogilvy.com/truffles_email/techfastforward/TechFastForward_PlugIn_Single.pdf, p. 57.
19Silver, K. (2011). Best baby apps. Parents.com. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from www.parents.com
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21Madkour, Rasha. (2011, October 26). Squirmy toddler? There’s an app for that. Yahoo! News. Retrieved October 11, 2012, from http://news.yahoo.com/squirmy-toddler-theres-app-165339272.html
22Yahoo!, & Starcom MediaVest. (2012). Brave new moms: Navigating technology’s impact on family time webinar. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from http://advertising.yahoo.com/video/brave-moms-navigating-technologies-impact-160000901.html; Yahoo! and Starcom MediaVest. (2012). Brave new moms: Navigating technology’s impact on family time. Retrieved October 2, 2013, from http://advertising.yahoo.com/article/brave-new-moms.html
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25Yahoo!, & Starcom MediaVest. (2012). Brave new moms: Navigating technology’s impact on family time webinar. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from http://advertising.yahoo.com/video/brave-moms-navigating-technologies-impact-160000901.html
26Yahoo! & Starcom MediaVest. (2012). Brave new moms: Navigating technology’s impact on family time. Retrieved October 2, 2013, from http://advertising.yahoo.com/article/cpg-insights-194919651.html
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impact on family time. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from http://l.yimg.com/dh/ap/ayc/pdf/brave_new_moms_snapshot.pdf
28Yahoo!, & Starcom MediaVest. (2012). Brave new moms: Navigating technology’s impact on family time webinar. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from http://advertising.yahoo.com/video/brave-moms-navigating-technologies-impact-160000901.html
29Siegel, D., & Hartzell, M. (2004). Parenting from the inside out: How a deeper self-understanding can help you raise children who thrive. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher, p. 34.
30National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2012). The science of neglect: The persistent absence of responsive care disrupts the developing brain: Working Paper 12. Retrieved November 21, 2013, from http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu
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