I remember watching the 2013 movie Her, where a man named Theo develops a relationship with an artificial intelligence operating system, and feeling two contradictory things at once: incredulous (“This could never really happen”) and uneasy (“This seems like it really could happen”). Fast forward twelve years, and my second impulse was right. We’re closer than ever… Read More →
When our kids are little, we get a lot of data about their lives. We know their friends, what they ate for lunch, and which show they want to watch on repeat. I remember sometimes wishing for less data when my youngest’s preferred safety spot was in my lap, facing me, with both hands clutching… Read More →
I watched the hit Netflix series Adolescence with two hats on. As a professional, the online misogyny wasn’t new. I’ve written about online extremism before. But as a parent, with a kid the same age (and freckles) as the main character sleeping upstairs, the show hit me differently. My son, like all teens, is actively… Read More →
“You are always on the iPad,” I said as I rounded the corner into the dining room and spotted my son on his device. As soon as I said it, I knew it wouldn’t lead to a productive conversation about my kid’s tech habits. I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t hear a response like, “Oh,… Read More →
“Broken!” Miles exclaimed. “It’s broken!” he repeated, his frustration building. It took me a moment to catch on. My nearly three-year-old was standing in front of the TV, furiously trying to swipe at Daniel Tiger with his index finger. Then it clicked—he was trying to move the character like he would on a tablet. And… Read More →
“It’s a lot,” an eleventh grader admitted to me recently. “There is always homework, updates to check, friends to respond to, and things to get done. Plus there is so much happening in the world right now. Sometimes I try to check out, but I still feel the pressure. It’s exhausting.” This student isn’t alone.… Read More →
“If you could design your own digital spaces, what would they look like?” I recently posed this question to a group of young people. As adults, it’s easy to focus on what we don’t like about the online world. It’s also easy to assume that we see the harms clearly while young people remain thoughtlessly… Read More →
1. Can We Hold These Three Truths About Tech and Teens at the Same Time? This is an important moment. We have an opportunity to move forward with adolescent needs and development in mind. However, doing so requires that we step up to a challenge: We need to take steps guided by both attention to… Read More →
Sometimes it’s hard to observe transformative changes in real-time. We tend to look back and think, “Ah, that was when everything started to change.” When I set up my first “Friendster” account, it certainly felt new and exciting. I thought carefully about which songs and photos best represented “me” for my little corner of the… Read More →
There are moments when I look at my phone and think, “What a time to be alive!” The device in my hand is one thousand times faster than the last generation’s supercomputers. Our lives benefit from this small device’s connection, information, and efficiency. There are other moments when I long to slow down all that… Read More →
