This week I want to talk about mindfulness and bringing it to our technology use. In Screenagers, there's a scene where I consult with a mindfulness coach, David Levy, who specializes in mindful tech. I reached out to him after my daughter Tessa said to me, "I'm really distracted by my computer at night."
Everyone in the family can start to bring intention and mindfulness to their technology, use whether it's for pleasure, school or work. Levy wrote a book called Mindful Tech: How to Bring Balance to Our Digital Lives. The big idea is to train your brain to bring attention and intention to what you are doing when you are using technology.
Here are some conversation starters to help you lead a conversation with your family and to try to get them to implement these questions in their tech use this week:
How to stay mindful?
When you are looking at your email, your Instagram, your Snapchat, are you breathing? Does your neck hurt? Why are you checking it? Are you checking it to avoid doing work, homework or interacting with your family or friends? Are you toggling between several tabs?
Take a moment and notice your breath and your body when you are engaged with technology. These little mindful practices might actually reduce your time without even trying.
Keep me posted on your progress!
Warmly,
Delaney
This week I want to talk about mindfulness and bringing it to our technology use. In Screenagers, there's a scene where I consult with a mindfulness coach, David Levy, who specializes in mindful tech. I reached out to him after my daughter Tessa said to me, "I'm really distracted by my computer at night."
Everyone in the family can start to bring intention and mindfulness to their technology, use whether it's for pleasure, school or work. Levy wrote a book called Mindful Tech: How to Bring Balance to Our Digital Lives. The big idea is to train your brain to bring attention and intention to what you are doing when you are using technology.
Here are some conversation starters to help you lead a conversation with your family and to try to get them to implement these questions in their tech use this week:
How to stay mindful?
When you are looking at your email, your Instagram, your Snapchat, are you breathing? Does your neck hurt? Why are you checking it? Are you checking it to avoid doing work, homework or interacting with your family or friends? Are you toggling between several tabs?
Take a moment and notice your breath and your body when you are engaged with technology. These little mindful practices might actually reduce your time without even trying.
Keep me posted on your progress!
Warmly,
Delaney
I bet there is one thing (at least) about your phone that you have been meaning to do, and yet you have not taken the time to do it. Yes? I just got another alert from the social media app, BeReal. I downloaded it with my kids a while back to learn about it. I don’t use it. Instead, I have been repeatedly irked whenever it pings me (it does that even with notifications turned off). I keep saying to myself, "Oh, yes, I have to delete that.” And then I never do. SO RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT, I am inviting you to do one tiny thing (yep, right now) …
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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.
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I firmly believe that kids should have at least two activities that they are doing outside of school time. But what to do if the teen is not motivated to find something to do? In today’s blog, I write about what to do when our teens are resistant to getting involved in extracurriculars.
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.
