Hello, TechApps parents!
Welcome to the joys of middle school, specifically middle school technology. This page will have links to resources and articles I think might be of interest to middle school parents, as we learn to navigate the potential pitfalls of our children's online lives together.
Continue the Digital Citizenship Conversation at Home:
- Be Internet Awesome Family Guide - This family guide (PDF) from Google's Be Internet Awesome includes vocabulary, discussion points, and family activities to help families set a foundation for safe internet use.
- Talking with Your Kids about Online Safety - This discussion guide from the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) includes discussion topics for talking with children about online safety.
- The Smart Talk - This website is a resource from the National PTA, with funding from Norton LifeLock, for families to establish ground rules for children's technology use including safety and privacy, screen time, social media and respect, apps and downloads, and texting and calling.
General Resources for Parents:
- Kids & Tech: Tips for Parents in the Digital Age - Tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on how to navigate parenting in the digital age and set boundaries for digital device use.
- How Social Media Affects Teens - Blog post from Just Say Yes discussing the pros and cons of social media for teens
- Screen Addiction Among Teens: Is There Such a Thing? - Spoiler: Yes, there is such a thing.
- More than 3 "yes" answers may indicate an addiction:
- Is your preferred media activity the only thing that puts you in a good mood?
- Are you angry or otherwise unhappy when forced to unplug?
- Is your use increasing over time?
- Do you sneak around to use screens?
- Does it interfere with family activities, friendships or school?
- Parenting, Media, and Everything in Between - Common Sense Media's guides to managing the digital lives of tweens (For ALL the resources, click the "Parents Need to Know" menu button)
- Mozilla's *Privacy Not Included site reviewing privacy & security of smart devices
- Tweens, Teens, Tech, and Mental Health: Coming of Age in an Increasingly Digital, Uncertain, and Unequal World 2020
- Sharenting: Children's Privacy in the Age of Social Media - an article from Emory Law School about the tension "between a parent's right to share online and a child's interest in privacy."
- What Tech Companies Know about Your Kids - TEDTalk from Veronica Barrassi about data gathering, AI, and what it can mean for our children's future
Parental Control Resources: