Did you know that Hamlin is a member of national nonprofit Common Sense‘s Supporter School network?

Did you know that Hamlin is a member of national nonprofit Common Sense‘s Supporter School network?

This membership demonstrates our ongoing commitment to help empower our children to make safe, responsible decisions online and thrive in a world of media and technology. To help kick off Character Month, Common Sense just published this blog post, How to Raise Good Humans in a Digital World.  Check it out to learn five easy ways to teach character strengths and life skills to kids of all ages using media and technology. Continue reading →

Our year is coming to a close and educators, parents and students are looking forward to a change in routine.  But, as we head into the summer, I want to be sure to address one of the biggest parenting frustrations I hear about time and time again: setting screen limits, picking appropriate media, and figuring out Snapchat. We’re raising “digital natives” but we’re supposed to be the experts? Actually, no. It turns out, the most effective way to help your kid have a healthy relationship to media is by being their media mentor.

Many of us think we need to have all the answers. Or we just stick our heads in the sand and hope for the best. But, as so often happens, the middle road is juuuuust right. Researcher Alexandra Samuel surveyed 10,000 North American families and found that some parents put strict limits on what their kids could watch or play (“limiters”), especially when they’re young, while others (especially parents of teens) let their kids control screen time and embrace the idea that more tech is good tech (“enablers”).

But about a third of the parents — whom she calls “media mentors” — consistently engaged in media with their kids, despite their ages, and these kids had better outcomes. Kids of media mentors were less likely to access porn, chat online with a stranger, and impersonate an adult or peer online. Exactly what you’re hoping for as a parent, right?  We have the power to talk with our kids about what they’re seeing, to understand the media in new ways with them, to help them see how it might relate to their outside world, how to look up from their media…. Don’t we want kids today to have people around them who are interacting with them while they’re interacting with media?

So what does it take to be a “media mentor“? Please read these 5 steps to learn how you can be a media mentor.  

In addition, I wanted to leave you with a list of the top picks for out-of-school learning from our expert teachers. With these great apps, games, and websites, kids can practice core skills, as well as pursue lifelong learning in whatever interests them most. Parents, take note!

Have a great week and don’t forget to use Common Sense.

 Today, Common Sense is proud to release a new research brief: Technology Addiction: Concern, Controversy, and Finding Balance. The brief addresses many of the questions and concerns that parents, educators, and others have about about children’s use of media and technology. Are children addicted to their devices? And, even if children aren’t actually addicted, how should we understand unhealthy engagement with media? What are the human costs of this “always connected” lifestyle, especially for our children?  Along with the report, we’re releasing the results of a poll, Dealing with Devices: The Parent-Teen Dynamic which asks 1,240 teens and parents how they feel about the technology in their lives.

With the release of the report and the poll, Common Sense Media continues to assert itself as a leader in impactful and important research, which will have a long reach in its implications for parents, educators, policymakers, and others. This research brief was featured on the Today show this morning in an exclusive interview with Jim, and will continue to make news in the coming days. All report materials can be found on the Common Sense website.

Below are highlights from the poll:

• Half of teens and over one-quarter of parents feel they are addicted to their mobile device

• At least a few times a week, more than three-quarters of parents and 41% of teens feel the other gets distracted by their devices and doesn’t pay attention when they are trying to talk

• 72% of teens and 48% of parents feel the need to immediately respond to texts, social networking messages, and other notifications

• Despite conflicts, most parents feel their teens’ use of mobile devices has made no difference or even helped their relationship.

And selected key findings from the white paper:

• Internet addiction is potentially serious. There is no agreement on whether it’s a true addiction, how to measure it, or whether it’s something that is highly related to or even caused by another disorder, such as depression or ADHD. However, “Internet gaming disorder,” which involves excessive online gaming, may be included by the American Psychiatric Association in the next version of the DSM (the resource used to diagnose psychiatric disorders).

• Multitasking may be harming our ability to stay focused. Multitasking is actually a misnomer; we may think we’re doing multiple things simultaneously, but we’re often rapidly shifting our attention between individual tasks. Research shows that multitasking can hurt your ability to get things done, slow you down, and make it harder to remember things that happened while you were multitasking.

• Media and technology use is a source of friction for many families. Many children feel their parents check their devices too often, and a large number of parents struggle with limiting their children’s use of media and technology.

The report also reveals large gaps in our knowledge about technology addiction; to understand how media use affects kids as they grow, we need much better research.

Here’s what we suggest that you (and all families!) can do about it:

• Encourage families to find balance by declaring tech-free zones and times, choosing age-appropriate, high-quality media and tech for kids, and connecting with kids and supporting learning by talking about the media they consume. Parents and kids alike need to understand the effects of multitasking, and parents can reinforce these lessons by being good role models.

• If there is ever a question about whether a kid’s (or adult’s) media use is problematic, parents and educators can refer to our research or the Technology Addiction parent concern center where they will find dozens of advice articles, FAQs from parents, and other resources to identify the issue. And of course, we recommend families to seek expert help if needed

• Establish ground-rules for homes, classrooms, cars, dinner tables, and offices by using our Family Media Agreement and Device Contract so that everyone can make the most out of their media and tech time.

You’re sitting down to dinner and  — buzz buzz! — your phone starts vibrating.  You’re tucking your kid into bed and – squawk, squawk! — an app begs to be played.  It never fails; technology can interrupt our most treasured family moments.

Common Sense’s latest blog post, 3 Places Families Should Make Phone Free, offers practical advice about how to help tackle this dilemma.  And, if you want to kick-start conversations with friends and family around social media and technology use, host a special Bytes & Bites Community Media Dinner.  Here’s a link to a comprehensive guide, co-created by Common Sense and The Family Dinner Project.  It lays out a full game plan to help you create an evening filled with adults and kids sharing perspectives, discussing hot topics, and learning more about each other’s experiences.

Have a great week and don’t forget to use Common Sense