Please visit us at http://www.mydigitalfamily.org/
The space at the intersection of kids, families, neuroscience and technology is underdeveloped and rife for corporate entrepreneurship. Although commercial possibilities will no doubt develop quickly and can be crass and exploitive, I would like to posit that pro-social, family- and child-centered approaches to this space can also be monetized and compete in popular culture. As a psychiatrist with 70,000+ hours 'flying time' learning about kids and families and a researcher I would like to start an intelligent conversation with techy types about the possibilities, which I explore in my book KIDS, PARENTS, AND TECHNOLOGY: AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR YOUNG FAMILIES.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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We are so dazzled by digital gadgets (and they truly are amazing!) that we forget to consider seriously how these ultimately impact our children and family lives – and ultimately the picture is not at all pretty.
ReplyDeleteKids are awash in digital media and gadgets, and most are unsupervised and consume mostly junk. Parents feel helpless because they do not know -- except for restricting and filtering -- how to guide media-saturated kids’ into healthy media consumption.
Technology has brought lots of good stuff that can go into a healthy media diet that will actually enhance family life and child development. If shown how, parents will commit themselves to pay attention and get involved in kids' digital lives constructively and to the benefit of all. Kids will grow into balanced consumers of information and media and family relationships, values education, socialization, as would intellectual development, and kids will still have fun.
We need silence to grow...
ReplyDeleteToo many of us are uneasy - and kids 'bored' - and restless when the noise stops. The clutter of modern life -- especially the noise and unfocussed energy that digital media bring into our homes, cars, and into our hands -- are not necessarily good for our families and growing children. Connection is not friendship. Being present alone within one' s self or together with family members are moments of intimacy too rare in our current life.
Here's a NEW YEAR'S resolution for parents: I will take charge of my kids' digital media activities to make them into safe assets for development and family life. I want to stay present and keep their minds and brains 'green'. This will take an ongoing commitment, just like dieting or working on a marriage.
FACEBOOK AND OTHER DIGITAL MEDIA OVERUSE BY TEENS
ReplyDeleteAdolescence is a period of experimentation often given to such excesses, usually harmless when transient and just require watching and waiting, or gentle nudges from parents. Over-reaction from parents can make things worse when they turn into power struggles. People of all ages -- including youngsters -- who pull the plug themselves on overuse of any digital media (including videogames, social media, Internet, porn, etc.) are way ahead of those who either do not do so or cannot see the need to, or who insist that their excessive use is not a problem. Excesses of any kind that are chronic or produce family conflict are often lightening of other problems and would not respond to mere filtering.
A much more important general issue, and one that requires much more parental involvement than mere filtering or limiting access, is how kids use digital media in general, how family life is affected, and what place these have in their lives. To raise a successful digital family, this area requires a systematic and comprehensive commitment from parents from an early age and expert guidance, as I give in my Kids, Parents, and Technology: An Instruction Manual for Young families (see http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=4219079 and www.mydigitalfamily.org ).
WHAT IS NEXI'S DAUGHTER DOING IN JESSICA'S CRIB?
ReplyDeletesee http://smart-machines.blogspot.com/2009/12/nexi-mds-sociable-robot.html
From chapter 11 of KIDS, PARENTS, AND TECHNOLOGY: AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR YOUNG FAMILIES:
If present trends continue, babies and parents will soon be charmed by an endless stream of highly interactive, stimulating, dazzling, and novel digital media devices to place in babies’ cribs in their zeal to jumpstart intellectual development.
So would it be OK to place one in the crib? I believe not.
When you are a very young child, it is one thing to talk to your own invented transitional object or doll that you animate yourself, powering the moment almost entirely with your own imagination. It is quite another to have the doll talk back in way preprogrammed by strangers and in a stranger’s voice, or even mother’s voice. It is one thing to invent movements and make your doll move. It is quite another to have the doll move on its own. The very act of inventing the transitional object is a major creative and imaginative act. The magical qualities a child deposits in it are directly based on the child’s own needs. But a relational artifact comes already invented by someone else with someone else’s magic.
Moreover, it is preprogrammed with magical qualities of speech, movement, and even some mutuality. How much room does that leave for the child’s own inventiveness and creativity? Even if the child gains intellectually, what kind of person will he/she be?
- NEXI and her brothers and sisters (note my choice of words here!) is not just another nerdy experiment – she is part of well-funded and amazing work by creative and dedicated people at major centers here, in Japan, and elsewhere that is advancing exponentially (do not underestimate them!) See Dr. Sherry Turkle’s work and more in my Chapter 11.
- The rate of introduction of new consumer applications by our great technology companies is growing exponentially (do not underestimate them!)
- Baby Einstein again showed us how ready major media companies have been to target very young children – merchandising is now literally ‘cradle to grave’, with huge emphases on the cradle. There are lots of people worried about that.
- Baby Einstein showed us how ready young families are to adopt these technologies, in the face of contrary advice from otherwise respected experts and august professional institutions like the Amer Acad of Pediatrics. Families, not techies, are now first adopters of new technologies. There are lots of people worried about that too.
- We are also in the midst of a pseudo-neuroscience craze about exercising our brains (just watch public TV or go to the mall and see the new retail outlets!) - I am very pro-technology and have none of the usual suspicion of it or the industries. It is here to stay and has fantastic potential. My aim is to encourage its intelligent use because pro-child and pro-family thinking has not penetrated very far into the extraordinary boom of home digital media consumption. That’s what my efforts are about and why I wrote my book -- to reset parent thinking, increase their comfort, and commit to using these technologies for the good of family life and child development. I also researched it and use it in my practice.
So -- no matter what we say here, I have no doubt whatsoever that babies and toddlers will soon be hosting robotic play-dates in their cribs and playpens.
So let’s join them and be helpful!
New York Times: If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
So what are we doing? Kids need nutritious, balanced media "diets" for healthy growth and development.-Good families make for better brains-Used appropriately, media can provide vital growth opportunities for children and enhance family relationships.-Parents are the essential ingredient in their children's media diets.
Eitan Schwarz MD FAACAP DLFAPA
Author KIDS, PARENTS, AND TECHNOLOGY
The problem is big.
ReplyDeleteThe Kaiser Foundation Study shows how big the problem is: 21% of kids 8-18 are "heavy users" who use media, including texting and multi-tasking, up to 19 hours daily (including multitasking and texting). Family life and grades are down. So kids and media companies are pretty much in charge. Left to themselves, kids usually consume junk. Is this what parents want?
The solution must be big.
Media can be great for kids if used right. Only 1/3 of parents set limits, and when they do, media use drops by only 15 hrs/w. Not much! Setting limits does not work enough!! Parents need help big-time! Parents need a proactive, comprehensive Media Plan. A Media Plan must be comprehensive and based on sound child development and family health principles. It must help families succeed as their kids brains are wired actively during early childhood. It must prevent improper chaotic use in the teen years before it starts. It should translate into practical daily media menus. That is why I wrote my book.
Parent commitment must be big and they need good expert help.
There is no quick fix. Start early and work at it as part of daily parenting. Parents have the home court advantage and they must commit themselves, as they do to a nutrition plan, retirement plan, plan to make the family and marriage work.
Dr. Eitan Schwarz
www.mydigitalfamily.org
THIS PROBLEM IS BIGGER THAN TEXTING WHILE DRIVING
ReplyDeleteTexting and using cell phone while driving cause so many traffic accidents that they are now banned in many places. And who even heard of texting five years ago? This is yet another example of how we are reacting to the explosive changes wrought by technology in our lives.
But the impact of technology on our kids and families has been just as explosive and can be just as destructive as traffic accidents, and also requires severe measures. “We can’t just make laws and rules. Restriction, and quick fixes won’t work. Parents of young kids need to start thinking early and plan for the long-term,” warns child-psychiatrist Dr. Eitan Schwarz.
Warning that family life and childhood development itself are being weakened by technology use, a distinguished psychiatrist has written a book that helps parents turn technology into a positive family resource rather than a threat. A recently released Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that older children are engaged with the media as much as eight hours a day; only 1/3 of families limit media; but even when parents do set rules, media consumption by kids drops by only 1/3.
In Kids, Parents, and Technology: An Instruction Manual for Young Families, Eitan D. Schwarz MD provides an indispensible guidebook for parents of children from infancy through eight years. The book's goal, he says, is to help parents lead youngsters towards beneficial and positive uses of the Internet, videogames, smart phones, and other electronic media, “As they grow, they will form better habits than today’s media-soaked teens, 1/5 of whom now get as much as nineteen hours of media daily.”
Dr. Schwarz makes wise and comprehensive recommendations based on a lifetime of clinical experience and the latest scientific knowledge. It is the first comprehensive and practical child- or family-centered instruction manual offering step-by-step instructions on how to turn digital media into powerful parenting tools that enrich family life.
“The instruction manuals we receive with digital media devices don't teach parents the most important things -- how to use the new gadgets to fully benefit youngsters and family lives," says Dr. Schwarz.
"My work with parents and families showed me the problems technology is creating for them and helped me identify the type of information they need to make certain that these devices contribute to family life in a positive way.”
Dr. Schwarz urges parents to be “fully present with your children and avoid texting and cell phone use.” Parents themselves may be damaging children when they are not fully present because they are online, on the cell phone, or texting. Not only are they rude or setting bad examples, but their distractions interrupt the vital bond necessary for healthy wiring of young children's brains.
Kids, Parents, and Technology: An Instruction Manual for Young Families rapidly gets parents to start treating media consumption in the same healthy ways they already employ to manage children’s food diets. They can make children’s home consumption of media a safe and rich asset to family life through step-by-step guidelines and fresh and credible thinking that helps parents, educators, therapists, doctors, policy makers, businesses, and anyone else working with children. Finally, the book provides in-depth thinking about the uses of digital media as therapeutic tools, looks at its future uses, and an example of a non-violent, educational, value-oriented action game.
"By applying sound child-rearing and family support principles, parents can now create balanced media plans that lead youngsters to the values and orientation they will need to succeed in an increasingly media-rich world," says Dr. Schwarz.
Autism and related brain disorders are on the rise
ReplyDeleteGiven that cutting-edge neuroscience research is showing how wonderfully sensitive Baby's developing social- and related brain functions are to caregiver attachment behaviors and attunement; and given that there has been an explosive increase in recent years in intrusive mobile media use -- like cell-phoning, and now, texting; has anyone seriously investigated if such increased unintentional media-induced caregiver distractibility could possibly be one contributor to the tragic current rise in autism and related disorders?
Even if not contributory, don’t we need to know more about the impact of interactive media on young families’ functioning?
Neuroscience is beginning to teach us about how complex functions like empathy actually work.
ReplyDeleteOur brains are pre-wired to connect us with others. We have special neurons - mirror neurons -- that can react to what we sense others may be doing or feeling. How this process develops is then determined by our early relationships, and how this information is processed is what makes us more human than other primates. Empathy is an inborn human ability that can be shaped further by life experiences in which family life is crucial.
Take the Golden Rule, and see how complicated it is to actually 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' To truly get there, we have to have many brain calculation abilities. Certain brain disorders, inborn defects in parts of the system, and poor early experiences can all compromise this very complex process, yet most of us of us have a range of normal empathic abilities.
How does the 'connectivity' that new technology brings affect all of this? In early life, eye-to-eye, face-to-face contact and physical touch are crucial for the development of needed brain circuits. Sometimes, parents who are unintentionally distracted by an ever-present TV or intrusive smartphone or computer are not present enough to connect with their young kids, and may harm the development of these circuits.
LET'S GET A HOLD!
ReplyDeleteAre we all actually swirling topsy-turvy in a new media frenzied universe, or do we just think we are?
I don't know the answer, or am even sure about what this question ultimately means. But I do know that we are still people with bodies, minds, and souls. We come in as babies and go out as oldsters and live a life in between that is hard and wonderful and that we try to make sense of. We need each other and our families. We have no great answers to the great riddles, but are steadily discovering more and more.
Do these new technologies really change things as much as we think they do? I think not. IMHO we are just bedazzled and awed by our own brilliant engineering.
So -- please, please, please -- let's go back to basics, let's get a hold of ourselves, and let's stop ooing, ahhhing, and wringing our hands. Let's all hold hands and let's never forget to hold our children.
Eitan Schwarz wrote and self-published Kids, Parents & Technology: An Instruction Guide for Young Families (www.MyDigitalFamily.org .)
Are we all actually swirling topsy-turvy in a new media frenzied universe, or do we just think we are?
I don't know the answer, or am even sure about what this question ultimately means. But I do know that we are still people with bodies, minds, and souls. We come in as babies and go out as oldsters and live a life in between that is hard and wonderful and that we try to make sense of. We need each other and our families. We have no great answers to the great riddles, but are steadily discovering more and more.
Do these new technologies really change things as much as we think they do? I think not. IMHO we are just bedazzled and awed by our own brilliant engineering.
So -- please, please, please -- let's go back to basics, let's get a hold of ourselves, and let's stop ooing, ahhhing, and wringing our hands. Let's all hold hands and let's never forget to hold our children.
Child Psychiatrist: iPad can be good for kids and families
ReplyDeletehttp://www.NewsReleaseWire.com/31343
Apple’s new iPad adds a universe of new applications to those already in iPhones on a larger, more accessible touch screen that include books, games, business tools, newspapers, presentation managers, a word processor.
This tablet is a serious tool for serious people. Before bringing it home, every parent must think through its impact on the kids and family life because the iPad also puts unprecedented interactive media power into children’s hands. Mobile, tactile, responsive, and intensely user friendly, the large screen sparkles with sharp colorful images and text.
“The iPad is the magical stuff kids (and the kids in us all) dream of as beautiful images can be instantly enlarged, shrunk, moved or made to appear and disappear,” according to child psychiatrist and author Dr. Eitan Schwarz.
“It is a brilliant piece of engineering and testament to our human talent. But in the 10+ years of media explosion into the lives of younger and younger children, there has been little systematic effort to guide parents.
Kids left to themselves consume media as they do junk food. The more media permeates a home, the more family life deteriorates and the kids are less happy. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 1/5 of kids 8-18 spend up to 19 hrs/d (including texting and multitasking) total media time. Studies show that media use is associated with poorer grades and family life and less reading and imaginative play. When parents set limits for 1/3 of youngsters, media consumption drops by only 1/3, showing that restriction is just not enough.
In his new book, "Kids, Parents, and Technology: An Instruction Guide for Young Families," Dr. Schwarz, gives parents tips to leverage their home-court advantage to make media a positive family life asset. “Parents should manage children’s media consumption as they do a meal plan.”
Schwarz believes there needs to be “an ongoing commitment to organizing kids’ media lives just as we manage nutrition.” Schwarz’s tips for parents include:
• The iPad Is a Powerful Appliance - Start thinking of the iPad as a family appliance that must have positive values. Kids treat will treat it as toy, but the iPad is in reality an adult tool with enormous power. Would you let your unsupervised young child use the telephone or oven? Only devices with proven benefits belong in children’s hands.
• Take Charge - Have confidence and take charge. You can manage this important area of your kids’ lives. Many parents too readily take a back seat and let kids take the lead. In what other important area of life would they let that happen?
• Technology is Healthy - From infancy onwards, teach kids to appreciate technology as a healthy and routine part of family life. Starting young, children will learn that using technology is collaborative and social -- and not an isolating solitary activity. Always join preschoolers or younger kids using the iPad.
• Include the Whole Family - Create a new environment around the iPad and other media to promote mutuality, fun, respect, and development for the entire family. It is large enough for kids and parents to interact around it.
• Make the iPad a Positive Learning Tool - Just as you already shop for healthy food, harvest the positive opportunities offered by its apps and online. For example, for every age group there are wonderful opportunities for learning.
• Create Healthy Media Rules - Tailor healthy media diets into daily menus for each child to provide development opportunities. For example, regularly require enough online time on apps and online that enhance good values and education enrichment. Apply rules to your own media use – be fully present with your kids, and do not text while parenting.
Kids, Parents & Technology: An Instruction Guide for Young Families, a new book by Dr. Eitan Schwarz, the expert and seasoned Chicago child psychiatrist, is now available through www.mydigitalfamily.org .