The home of "Tech Talk Tuesdays"
“Having calm, consistent conversations has greatly improved screen balance in my home and I have written hundreds of articles to help others through my weekly Tech Talk Tuesdays newsletter and blog.”— Delaney Ruston, MD Physician/Filmmaker"
Summer is heating up, and today I'm exploring how we can help teens have a better understanding of what makes up positive romantic relationships, including physical intimacy. In a past survey, teens between the ages of 14 and 17 were asked what sources help them understand sex. They responded that helpful information was most likely to come from parents, 31%, and 22 % from friends. We're a great resource if we want to take on this challenge and get better at it.
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In today’s blogcast, I share recommendations for podcasts that you can listen to with your family this summer. So why these recommendations? Well, one of the objectives of the screenagers movement is finding ways to connect youth and adults for meaningful conversations, not just about tech in our lives, but ways to help build in our kids' critical thinking, empathy, communication skills, and I’m just a strong believer that listening to podcasts together and then discussing them can be a really terrific way to do that. It's also a way to celebrate one of the pearls of our tech revolution: the ability of people to become podcasters and to share science, stories, advice, and more. Read today’s blog for a list of podcasts I recommend.
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This summer I'm recording podcasts based on my Screenagers' Tech Talk Tuesday blogs. I'm calling these BLOGCASTS. Today I'm talking about a summer reset, both in terms of screen time policies in our homes and ideas for things to do off screens.
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Shame and guilt are two challenging emotions. Over the years, I have found a beneficial way to talk about these emotions for certain young patients who are struggling. Today I share a story from my clinic.
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Today, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Advisory on social media and youth mental health. Read today's blog for why we must act NOW.
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I have been thinking about ways jobs can help us feel better about ourselves. When my family and I hang out with other families, I often ask the adults what jobs they had when they were teens. I also ask the kids if they have had jobs. As our kids consider working this summer, now is the time to talk about the upsides of these experiences, including the mental health upsides! Read today’s blog for ideas on how to start the conversation. AND see a clip from our new movie.
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The U.S. Surgeon General announces a national framework to rebuild social connection and community in America. In his announcement, he said, “ …we have to renegotiate our relationship with technology, creating space in our lives without our devices so we can be more present with one another.” Today I share how I helped one dad navigate loneliness and isolation happening in his home with his teen.
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Since I was a teen, I have been uncommonly drawn to wanting to understand the emotional pain points of being human. In all sorts of casual situations, I gently direct conversations away from chit-chat into discussions about the hard things happening in our lives. In most of my conversations with my friends, I share at least one struggle happening in my life. I do this in hopes that I and others will find ways to maneuver through the pain and find paths to get through it in positive ways. I call this “Optimizing Pain.” Learn more in today’s Tech Talk Tuesday.
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When I saw this sticker in a bookstore, it made me laugh. I asked myself, “Is this what it has all come to?” Fortunately, I know that it is being tongue-in-cheek. Then I remembered that people can get unexpectedly irritated when texting, and someone chimes in — like my husband. Fact: humans can become highly irritated by what seems like minor things for some inexplicable reason. Our wired world provides many such situations. I would wager a hefty sum of money that everyone reading this experiences levels of annoyance by things people do tech-wise that feel out of proportion to the actual act. Today I offer several personal examples from my family and others and four ways to address these dilemmas.
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Today, I’m writing about cannabis — or, as teens mainly refer to it, weed. Weed is by far the most common term. “Pot” is rarely used by younger people. I have worked hard in my clinic to refrain from using that word. I also do not use the term marijuana, although that term often gets used in research papers. In today’s blog, I write about four important topics and questions to discuss with youth in your life.
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April is Alcohol Awareness Month, and I propose we use it as a time not to be overly fixated on the topic but to use it as a time to have one or two calm conversations. In today’s blog, I guide you through some topics and ideas to bring up with your kids about what they see in shows, movies, music videos, and social media and how it might influence their decisions.
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In Screenagers Under The Influence, we examine the scary reality that people use apps, such as Discord and Snapchat, to reach young people in the hopes of selling them drugs. They might advertise they are selling Oxycodone, Ativan, or some other substance. The buyer has no idea that many of these are not what the sellers claim but instead are fake/counterfeit pills and that part of what they have in them is fentanyl.
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