This Thanksgiving week, I’m taking time with my family. Due to illnesses in the family, this is the first time since the pandemic began that we finally get to have an extended family gathering, and I’m taking the week to truly enjoy it. Here are four of my past Screenagers’ Tech Talk Tuesday favorite Thanksgiving posts which are chock-full of ideas for fostering togetherness this week. I had fun rereading these, and I am definitely going to employ some of these tidbits into my gatherings this week.
I have some ideas about supporting more face-to-face interactions and fewer retreats into all our individual devices. Rarely do I say something so prescriptive, but I’m taking a leap. I recommend that all personal portable devices go into a big basket for Thanksgiving. Also, I recommend saying that all other screens are shut down for the day (except possibly for a TV if you watch sports that day, and a shared computer, for a reason I will explain).
How to promote shared discussions and shared experiences during this time? Thanksgiving’s themes of gratitude, empathy and sharing are a perfect launching pad. If put into practice, these traditions are the best medicine we have in the face of all the negativity seen in the media and on the internet.
In fact, I am not even going to discuss screen themes directly. Yet, I strongly believe that when we focus on how to create time for the things we worry screen time is negatively impacting, ultimately, it is very much screen-time related. It is all about solutions.
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Family time during the holiday is great… and complicated. There are many unspoken needs and hopes and conflicting communication styles. It is easy to retreat quickly into our devices to soothe our tense feelings. My advice to myself and all of us is to reach for a board game whenever possible. For my family, it’s Boggle. I’m also hoping to try to play Bananagrams more. Read more here.
Part of what we do as parents that is so special and important is that we bring up conversation topics with our kids that may not have been discussed elsewhere. I have just such a topic that I want to offer — a topic that pertains to Thanksgiving, and it has to do with the challenges of giving thanks. I am talking about meaningful thanks.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Register your interest in bringing our new movie to your school or community
I find that people rarely talk about how nervous and self-conscious we humans can feel when we thank someone for something they did or said. Even just contemplating expressing our thanks can make us feel anywhere from a little uncomfortable to super vulnerable. And yet, so often, these uncomfortable expressions of gratitude are the truly meaningful ones.
Many times we all say thank you, and it comes without any emotional hurdle, like saying thank you to the cashier as we smile through our masks and push our cart away. Or thank you to someone who steps aside to maintain a COVID-safe distance, and so on.
But I am talking about the thank-yous that make us feel a bit vulnerable. For instance, …
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This Thanksgiving week, I’m taking time with my family. Due to illnesses in the family, this is the first time since the pandemic began that we finally get to have an extended family gathering, and I’m taking the week to truly enjoy it. Here are four of my past Screenagers’ Tech Talk Tuesday favorite Thanksgiving posts which are chock-full of ideas for fostering togetherness this week. I had fun rereading these, and I am definitely going to employ some of these tidbits into my gatherings this week.
I have some ideas about supporting more face-to-face interactions and fewer retreats into all our individual devices. Rarely do I say something so prescriptive, but I’m taking a leap. I recommend that all personal portable devices go into a big basket for Thanksgiving. Also, I recommend saying that all other screens are shut down for the day (except possibly for a TV if you watch sports that day, and a shared computer, for a reason I will explain).
How to promote shared discussions and shared experiences during this time? Thanksgiving’s themes of gratitude, empathy and sharing are a perfect launching pad. If put into practice, these traditions are the best medicine we have in the face of all the negativity seen in the media and on the internet.
In fact, I am not even going to discuss screen themes directly. Yet, I strongly believe that when we focus on how to create time for the things we worry screen time is negatively impacting, ultimately, it is very much screen-time related. It is all about solutions.
Family time during the holiday is great… and complicated. There are many unspoken needs and hopes and conflicting communication styles. It is easy to retreat quickly into our devices to soothe our tense feelings. My advice to myself and all of us is to reach for a board game whenever possible. For my family, it’s Boggle. I’m also hoping to try to play Bananagrams more. Read more here.
Part of what we do as parents that is so special and important is that we bring up conversation topics with our kids that may not have been discussed elsewhere. I have just such a topic that I want to offer — a topic that pertains to Thanksgiving, and it has to do with the challenges of giving thanks. I am talking about meaningful thanks.
I find that people rarely talk about how nervous and self-conscious we humans can feel when we thank someone for something they did or said. Even just contemplating expressing our thanks can make us feel anywhere from a little uncomfortable to super vulnerable. And yet, so often, these uncomfortable expressions of gratitude are the truly meaningful ones.
Many times we all say thank you, and it comes without any emotional hurdle, like saying thank you to the cashier as we smile through our masks and push our cart away. Or thank you to someone who steps aside to maintain a COVID-safe distance, and so on.
But I am talking about the thank-yous that make us feel a bit vulnerable. For instance, …
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This Thanksgiving week, I’m taking time with my family. Due to illnesses in the family, this is the first time since the pandemic began that we finally get to have an extended family gathering, and I’m taking the week to truly enjoy it. Here are four of my past Screenagers’ Tech Talk Tuesday favorite Thanksgiving posts which are chock-full of ideas for fostering togetherness this week. I had fun rereading these, and I am definitely going to employ some of these tidbits into my gatherings this week.
I have some ideas about supporting more face-to-face interactions and fewer retreats into all our individual devices. Rarely do I say something so prescriptive, but I’m taking a leap. I recommend that all personal portable devices go into a big basket for Thanksgiving. Also, I recommend saying that all other screens are shut down for the day (except possibly for a TV if you watch sports that day, and a shared computer, for a reason I will explain).
How to promote shared discussions and shared experiences during this time? Thanksgiving’s themes of gratitude, empathy and sharing are a perfect launching pad. If put into practice, these traditions are the best medicine we have in the face of all the negativity seen in the media and on the internet.
In fact, I am not even going to discuss screen themes directly. Yet, I strongly believe that when we focus on how to create time for the things we worry screen time is negatively impacting, ultimately, it is very much screen-time related. It is all about solutions.
An Oakland library has started lending out sports equipment and games alongside books, so families can borrow gear to use at nearby parks. It is a reminder that borrowing and lending between families is a simple way to fill a summer afternoon without a screen, while quietly modelling generosity and humility. We are out of practice at asking, but the person on the other end is usually glad to help.
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E-readers are convenient, but there are three reasons to lean toward paper books this summer. First, e-readers are screens, and the pull of everything else you could do on one makes it harder to stay immersed. Second, a large meta-analysis found people understand and remember slightly better on paper, especially with longer texts. Third, easy access to endless book samples makes it too tempting to jump ship rather than work through the slower parts, since reading, unlike TikTok, is about delayed gratification.
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Summer's wide open hours raise two perennial questions: how to reset screen time once the school-year structure disappears, and how to fill the freed-up days with things that are good for kids and parents alike. This week rounds up seven favorite past summer posts to help with both.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
