“How much time do you think kids spend with technology every day?” I asked my youngest. “A lot. I don’t know the number, but I bet it’s a lot,” he responded. His answer reinforced that you don’t need a research study to know that media and technology take up an enormous share of our waking… Read More →
“Did you see that someone married their ChatGPT companion?” my youngest asked. His next question came right on the heels of the first: “Do we have any cereal?” The breathtaking juxtaposition of these questions sums up what it feels like to parent in the age of AI. Jarring, sensational news followed by the completely mundane.… Read More →
Note: This post references sexual assault. It does not include graphic descriptions or details. My adolescent sons had already heard about the “Cornell 7” before I checked in with them about it. It had already popped up in their YouTube feeds and filtered into conversations at school. The details of this alleged case of sexual… Read More →
This past summer we had to say an unexpected goodbye to our beloved family dog, Tuney. There is often a predictable response to the loss of a pet: the feeling that this grief isn’t as important as other, bigger losses in the world…followed by relentless sobbing. After all, family is family. Grief is grief. The… Read More →
“Didn’t we just buy a college rule composition notebook?” I asked my high schooler. “I think so, but I can’t find it,” he replied. The same conversation ensued about mechanical pencils and then again about folders. It seems that every school supply item had somehow vanished the night before school began. Rest assured, we eventually… Read More →
One phrase I hear over and over again from parents when it comes to raising kids in a digital world: “This is exhausting.” Exhaustion makes sense. In the absence of meaningful legislation or tech accountability, we’ve outsourced the burden of online safety almost entirely to parents and kids. Tech companies have consistently prioritized profit over… Read More →
“I have barely figured out how to talk to my kids about viewing online porn,” a parent shared with me recently. “It’s so overwhelming to think about them or their friends creating sexual content. The AI stuff is just so overwhelming. Can I just opt out of this altogether? I want to opt out!” she… Read More →
“What do you wish adults better understood about your relationship with technology?” I asked this question to a group of seven high school student leaders last week, in front of an audience of one hundred and fifty educators. I was lucky enough to share a conference keynote stage with a group of thoughtful young people… Read More →
“What kinds of questions feel easier to ask AI than a human?” This is a question that the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Center for Digital Thriving has been encouraging adults to ask young people since ChatGPT and other models burst onto the scene a few years ago. Now, a national survey from Common Sense… Read More →
“I need to figure out how to approach my kids differently when they are on their devices. The moment I see my kid on his phone, I tense up,” a parent recently shared. “What do you think is going on?” I asked. “I’m not sure. Maybe I can feel a battle coming,” she replied. Then… Read More →
