Definition

Technology use in this document refers to personal computing devices such as computers, phones, and tablets to access content on the internet or local device. This includes specific concerns related to social media, video games, extreme content, and online communities.

Goals

1. Help our children use technology to enhance their development and learning
2. Develop critical thinking skills to recognize and resist digital manipulation and exploitation
3. Teach children to view technology as a tool with specific benefits and limitations
4. Help children understand the tradeoffs of using technology for entertainment
5. Establish healthy device habits that prioritize physical presence and real-world engagement

Understanding Technology’s Impact

Digital Literacy

• Identify what specific problem a technology helps solve
• Understand how personalization algorithms work and their purposes
• Recognize the business models behind “free” services
• Learn how to evaluate information sources for credibility

Online Safety

• Recognize manipulative behavior online and develop response strategies
• Understand different forms of cyberbullying:
  • Group exclusion
  • Targeted hashtag campaigns
  • Late-night messaging/harassment
  • Manipulated photos and videos
  • Indirect negative references (“subtweeting”)
  • Inappropriate photo sharing and solicitation
• Understand the prevalence and harms of online pornography
• Recognize AI-generated content including:
  • Deepfakes
  • AI-generated images
  • Style transfer
  • Marketing
  • Propaganda

Digital Wellbeing

• Develop personal strategies for monitoring device use
• Understand technology’s impact on sleep quality
• Recognize addiction mechanisms and how companies employ them
• Consider opportunity costs: time spent with technology means less time for other activities
• Learn to use technology to enhance real-world experiences

Family Technology Boundaries

Device-Free Zones and Times

• No device use in bedrooms
• No devices during meals
• No screens at least 1 hour before bedtime
• Device-free family time periods

Age-Appropriate Access

• No social media accounts before age 16
• No personal smartphones before age 16 (consider basic phones for communication)
• No unsupervised YouTube browsing
• No Roblox (consider alternatives like Minecraft)

Management Strategies

• Regular family discussions about technology use
• Transparent monitoring of younger children’s online activities
• Gradually increasing autonomy with demonstrated responsibility
• Modeling healthy technology habits as parents

Resources

These are external resources which were used to come up with some of the ideas in this document. I include a link to the resource and a summary of what information or perspective the resource provides.

Social Media

Facebook Files - The Wall Street Journal investigated internal company documents provided to them by a whistleblower. They found that Facebook knows about the harm it causes users but struggles to make real change due to a fear that users will engage with Facebook less, thereby dropping key numbers used by investors to value Facebook. The investigation highlights a number of Facebooks internal behaviors, strategies, and initiatives which are relevant to kids. A key insight the investigation provided is that Facebook has researched the negative mental impact that Instagram has on teen and preteen users. Facebook found that teen girls are particularly susceptible to anxiety and depression when they use Instagram.

Anxious Generation - The book by Jonathan Haidt explores why rates of mental illness jumped in 2010 across the western world. It argues a correlation between the rate jump and personal computing device use, specifically calling out social media and video games. The book is full of information related to technology use in children and young adults. Key ideas include:

• The Four basic Harms caused by Social Media use are Social deprivation, Sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction.
• Kids' antifragile capabilities are important to exercise during adolescence in order to develop self-confidence and a sense of independence.
• Discover and Defend mode during human development. Discover mode is when developing humans look for new opportunities. Defend mode is when humans look for and defend against threats. Enabling children to stay in discover mode often and minimizing how much time they spend in defend mode is beneficial to their well-being.
• The addiction hook and how technology companies use research from behavioral psychology to keep users engaged with their platforms longer.

Digital Minimalism - This blog post turned into a book by Cal Newport. The book argues that our lives are busied by digital distractions and proposes an intentional use of technology he calls, digital minimalism. Digital minimalism is where people choose to use technology or services for which they know the value it provides them. The book overlaps with Anxious Generation in resources cited but is addressed to a different audience, namely one of adults who are overwhelmed by technology in their own lives. It also proposes several strategies for personally managing technology.

• Digital clutter is stressful
• How to identify beneficial technologies
  • Does it solve a problem that existed before
  • Does it make offline living better
  • Attention is fragile! Does this technology make money from my attention

Roblox

Hidenburg Research’s Wall Street Report - This report is targeted at Wall Street Investors and contains a fair amount of information about the financials behind Roblox. It also contains a wealth of information about what the platform is and how it differs from what the company tells parents, businesses, users, educators, and investors. Key takeaways include Roblox is full of sexual predators and bullies who target the platform due to its popularity with children and impossible to monitor model of having users create experiences for other users. The platform is a gateway to other online groups which have even less moderation and include more explicit pornography. Roblox exploits the labor of users, usually underaged or inexperienced developers, to create experiences for which it pays very little. The financial incentive of the company makes user safety secondary to profits.