Screen time and homework can be a real problem. Our children often need screens to do their homework and then are automatically vulnerable to distraction when they need concentration the most. Famous research out of Stanford showed that when people multitask they feel as if they are doing better and better at the different tasks but actually they are doing worse and worse on all of them.
I am starting to have talks now with my kids about how are they going to manage homework—both being organized around it and staying focused. Staying focused is so important because their brains are developing these critical functions during these teen years. When I interviewed Dimitri Christakis, MD at Seattle Children’s Hospital, for Screenagers, he said that successfully building executive function skills are measured not just by staying on tasks we find interesting, but by actually learning how to stay on tasks that we find challenging or tedious.
For this week's Tech Talk Tuesday I have some conversation starters about how we can work with our kids to find ways to help them get organized and manage homework.
Photo by Mark Bowden/iStock / Getty Images
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
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Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
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Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
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
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Screen time and homework can be a real problem. Our children often need screens to do their homework and then are automatically vulnerable to distraction when they need concentration the most. Famous research out of Stanford showed that when people multitask they feel as if they are doing better and better at the different tasks but actually they are doing worse and worse on all of them.
I am starting to have talks now with my kids about how are they going to manage homework—both being organized around it and staying focused. Staying focused is so important because their brains are developing these critical functions during these teen years. When I interviewed Dimitri Christakis, MD at Seattle Children’s Hospital, for Screenagers, he said that successfully building executive function skills are measured not just by staying on tasks we find interesting, but by actually learning how to stay on tasks that we find challenging or tedious.
For this week's Tech Talk Tuesday I have some conversation starters about how we can work with our kids to find ways to help them get organized and manage homework.
Photo by Mark Bowden/iStock / Getty Images
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
Sign up here to receive the weekly Tech Talk Tuesdays newsletter from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD.
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Screen time and homework can be a real problem. Our children often need screens to do their homework and then are automatically vulnerable to distraction when they need concentration the most. Famous research out of Stanford showed that when people multitask they feel as if they are doing better and better at the different tasks but actually they are doing worse and worse on all of them.
I am starting to have talks now with my kids about how are they going to manage homework—both being organized around it and staying focused. Staying focused is so important because their brains are developing these critical functions during these teen years. When I interviewed Dimitri Christakis, MD at Seattle Children’s Hospital, for Screenagers, he said that successfully building executive function skills are measured not just by staying on tasks we find interesting, but by actually learning how to stay on tasks that we find challenging or tedious.
For this week's Tech Talk Tuesday I have some conversation starters about how we can work with our kids to find ways to help them get organized and manage homework.
Photo by Mark Bowden/iStock / Getty Images
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
This year, millions of students are experiencing a major shift: school days without phones, smartwatches, or other personal devices. Today we explore the wins, hurdles, and solutions helping schools succeed. We also share our resources that you can use to support technology policy changes in your schools.
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I recently sat down with middle school principal Zach at his school in Washington State. We talked about the challenges Zach and his team faced in his early years as principal when students used phones during school, and how he brought about a powerful transformation by having phones and smartwatches put away in locked pouches for the whole school day. In today’s blog, to raise awareness of the challenges, I share five real examples from Zach of the troubling ways students use phones at school to be unkind.
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It is with great pleasure that I share with you today a piece that Lisa Tabb and I did for Jonathan Haidt's (Author of The Anxious Generation) and researcher Zack Rausch's Substack blog — After Babel. In it, we discuss the rise in use of smartwatches in elementary schools and the problems they pose. There is a real cost to arming (pun intended) our kids with these devices and sending them to school. Now is the time to stop and fully address this topic and ensure that schools become smartwatch and phone-free.
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.
