Low Tox Life 383. Kids and tech: How to cultivate a healthy, safe blend of tech and reality in the digital world with psychologist, and cyberpsychology researcher Dr Jocelyn Brewer
Big tech poses a double issue regarding tech and kids and family concerns.
No1. For Parents trying to learn practical skills about parenting and caring in the age of so much technology and now AI, we’re often very quickly scared to death: The algorithms favour sensationalist, fear-based marketing: the worst of the worst facts get preference over moderate, nuanced skill-building messaging and we tend to then act out of fear when communicating with our kids around tech, instead of curiosity, building trust, teaching boundaries and validating their interests with their safety in mind.
No2. For Kids, the algorithms can serve sensational, sexual or violent content that they’re not ready for and don’t know how to deal with in a healthy way, often sometimes feeling shame or breeding secrecy over what they’ve discovered or private conversations they’ve been invited to.
We need to figure out how to be better flashlights for their spotlight minds, and Dr Jocelyn Brewer is back on the podcast to help us take a deep breath and get really good at it.
We cover:
- Gaming/Gaming styles and connection and community green/red flags
- Tech usage and how we talk about it with our kids (pro tip: WITH, not AT for starters!)
- Our fears around risk can create a win/lose battle where no one wins.
- Social media - we’re consuming a product, NOT the effort behind it. Kids don’t realise.
- DMs/Messaging and navigating communication and kids knowing how to deal with tough things friends go through (SO good!)
- Escalation - communication, content, sensationalism in algorithms.
- AI and the way forward with the pervasive amount of synthetic content now being generated and shared.
Share it far and wide - I haven’t spoken to a single parent or teacher who hasn’t got concerns over some of these topics, and we need more practical skill building, not more fear and denial.
Connect with Jocelyn on Instagram @digital_nutrition
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