The Peaceful Parenting Podcast

118: Raising Kids in the Era of Technology with Devorah Heitner

Sep 6, 2023

39:32

In this episode, Dr. Devorah Heitner joins me to talk about raising kids in the era of technology, and different tools and strategies to implement, all while continuing to respect their privacy.

Dr. Heitner is the author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World and her book on navigating Privacy and Reputation with kids and teens, Growing Up in Public will be out in 2023 with Penguin Random House.

Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN Opinion. She has a Ph.D. in Media/Technology & Society from Northwestern University and has taught at DePaul and Northwestern. She is delighted to be raising her own teenager and she lives with her family in Chicagoland.

We talk about:

[2:55] Screenwise and Growing Up In Public
[9:50] Are there ways to track your kids without using phones
[11:50] Tracking kids over the age of 18
[13:00] When and why kids should get a phone
[17:25] Her philosophy on mentoring kids vs. monitoring kids
[21:20] How to do this without invading on our kids’ privacy
[24:10] Setting screen-free boundaries for kids without killing their social life
[28:00] Navigating school devices and wanting to have screen time limits
[31:15] Tracking your kids’ grades
[36:15] Advice she would give to her younger parent self