What Every Parent Should Know About Kids and Technology but Didn’t Know to Ask!
Presentation from Common Sense Media
Speakers: April McClain-Delaney and Linda Burch from Common Sense Media
Board Member Joan Levy welcomed attendees and thanked the Landon School for hosting the program. Ms. Levy then introduced and welcomed Common Sense Media’s Washington Director, Ms. April McClain-Delaney.
Common Sense Media is focused on the media impact on kids and teaching them to be savvy, responsible media users by providing trustworthy information and tools for families to have a choice about the media they consume. The organization offers developmentally age-appropriate rating information on movies, apps, games and websites, educates through programs teaching skills, safety and ethics, advocates on issues that shape the media’s impact on kids and researches to provide reliable data on children’s use of media.
• 7.5 million Facebook users are younger than 13.
• The #1 way teens prefer to communicate is through face-to-face interaction as opposed to texting.
• Over 4 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube each month.
• 33% of the 14-24 age group receive texts or online messages that include sexual words.
• The average number of texts teens send per month is 3,417.
What can you do to help your kids be safe, smart and responsible media users and creators?
• Engage in a positive way with your children while using technology. Keep lines of communication open and learn what they are creating.
• Help develop a dialogue of rules to use with your kids.
• Try to keep media in public spaces and outside of the bedroom for as long as you can.
• Try to keep cell phones out of the bedroom.
• Encourage balanced use and keep an eye on the clock.
• Be a role model and watch what they watch.
• Talk to young children about cyberstalkers and cyberbullying.
• Use privacy settings and keep passwords secure.
• For 5th-8th graders, recommend what they can download and discuss.
• Keep an eye on ratings, explain that nothing is private and cheating is unacceptable.
• Need to distinguish a difference between online and offline lives. Devices need to be turned off.
