A former middle school English teacher and parent of two, Emily Cherkin, MEd., The Screentime Consultant, witnessed the simultaneous rise of technology use for school, and smartphone and social media use for kids. Today, Emily consults with parents, offers school presentations and professional development training, and writes about parenting and screentime to bring her tech-intentional approach to as many people as possible. Emily’s work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, The Today Show (twice), the BBC, Good Morning America, and more. Chuck Norris has quoted her. Emily is also a co-founder of The Student Data Privacy Project, an activism group dedicated to pushing back on excessive EdTech and screens in schools. Emily’s book “The Screentime Solution: A Judgment-Free Guide to Becoming a Tech-Intentional Family” is an Amazon bestseller and available everywhere books are sold.
Key Takeaways
- What does it mean to be “tech-intentional”?
- Why don’t you recommend parental controls, and what do you recommend instead?
- Would you give your 11 yr. old keys to the car? To get a drivers license, it’s a process of learning, it doesn’t happen right away. It should be the same way in teaching your kids about safe and respectful social media engagement.
- Be careful about your teen’s use of apps and games. They are focused on hooking the watcher and keeping their attention, and on selling.
- Teens can feel judged about what they’re engaging in; be curious instead of judgmental when asking teen’s about what they’re plugged into.
- Be aware as parents of how predators seek out victims on social media and have these conversations with your teens.
- Parents often buy a phone for their teen to keep them safe, and yet it’s opens the teen up to other dangers like bullying, mental health concerns, predators, etc.
- At the end of the day, we want our kids to be safe and we want to protect them.
- Ask yourself: Do I know what my child is doing online? Do I have a good relationship with my child so we can keep the line of communication open?
Resources
- Website: https://www.thescreentimeconsultant.com
- Book Order: https://www.amazon.com/Screentime-Solution-Judgment-Free-Becoming-Tech-Intentional/dp/B0CB9JS5KB/
- Instagram: @thescreentimeconsultant
- LinkedIn: @emily-cherkin
- Facebook: @thescreentimeconsultant
- Youtube: @thescreentimeconsultantllc6072
- Twitter/X: @ScreentimeLllc
