The hypocrisy of my life is corroding my insides, and confession is the only cure. Outwardly — in dinner conversations, on social media, at girls’ nights — I go all frothy-mouthed about gun control, all soapbox-y on the nefarious NRA, all high-horsey over our nation’s sick obsession with firearms. But in a dimly lit corner of my home, probably even as you read this, my sweet 12-year-old son who still orders off the kids’ menu is entertaining himself by assassinating animate

A couple notable studies regarding children and technology use were recently released. Both strongly suggest that when it comes to our kids and the time they spend engaging IRL (In Real Life) vs the time they spend gazing at screens…it's the screens that are winning. From Influence Central’s “Kids & Tech: The Evolution of Today’s Digital Natives” released in May we learned: The average age for getting a first phone is now 10.3 years old. The percentage of parents who impose s

I could feel my blood pressure rise a bit as I wondered if I should say something to my son. It was getting late and he was watching a video on his computer. "He's probably just wasting his time," I thought, "and it's my responsibility as his mom to help him manage his screen time." I took a deep breath. Working against my parental instinct to just shut his computer off and shoo him to bed, I asked him what he was watching. As it turns out, he was watching an educational hi

I’ve been spending a lot of time these days talking to parents about how technology and media are affecting their kids’ lives. What do I notice? Parents are fearful. They are overwhelmed. They are anxious. The worry list is long. I do notice an interesting shift though regarding the biggest fear. It used to be the focus of the fears had to do with cyberbullying, sexting, and predators. Although those fears still creep in, the biggest fear that most parents seem to have is the