Connected families

The three worlds of digital parenting

Research overview • Mentor parent essentials • Spotlight: Family tech policies • Workshops for educators and families • In the media • About our family

Welcome to the
new parenting divide

When should I give my daughter her first cell phone?
How much screen time should I allow?
Do I teach my kid to write by hand, or do I teach him to use a keyboard?

How parents address these choices constitutes the great parenting divide of our time. Far more than whether mummy leans in or stays home, far more than whether daddy is a “helicopter parent” or “free ranger”, how parents approach their kids’ use of technology shapes both family life and future prospects.

But we don’t have to make those choices in the dark. Over the course of 2014-2015, I developed and analyzed data on how more than 10,000 North American parents navigate the digital world, and uncovered three distinct digital parenting styles. This page shares highlights from that research project, along with related publications and resources.

These days, I’m looking at the other side of this puzzle: What happens when all these digital natives finally reach the workplace? The question of how to engage younger workers is central to the challenge of building thriving hybrid organizations. Find out more about my speaking on how to build the hybrid workplace right here.

M y summary story for The Atlantic featured a first look at the data on how mentors, enablers and limiters approach the challenge of raising children in a digital world..

View the full infographic >>

My presentation at SXSW Interactive mapped out the data showing why companies need to pay attention to the new digital parenting divide. See the highlights here.

Are you a mentor parent?

Kids thrive online when their parents actively guide them into the digital world. Digital mentors raise kids who have the technical and social skills to lead meaningful lives online — and who still know how to switch off.

You don’t have to be a tech whiz to be a great mentor for your kids: you just need to engage with your kids’ use of technology, and maybe even have some online fun yourself. Find a roundup of my favorite resources here — including worksheets to help you make a family screen agreement.

Meet your new robot cheerleader

The best thing an AI can produce? Better, happier humans. We should expect nothing less. And that means harnessing AI for joy, as well as productivity. That begins with using AI to boost your own professional or personal motivation. Just last week, I stumbled onto a...

The hybrid worker’s guide to screen time

How do you keep screen time intentional, healthy and rewarding? It’s a question many of us ask about our screen-glazed kids, but it’s also a question we need to ask of ourselves. Phones, computers and other gadgets are easy to overuse, not simply because we are frail...

TV for every occasion: shows for family viewing, multitasking and more

The problem with the golden age of TV is that with so many choices, it’s hard to know what to watch. This guide and cheat sheet helps you choose the right shows for four different occasions: dedicated viewing, multitasking, working out and family viewing.

Spotlight on

Family tech policies

Get a head start in guiding your kids’ use of technology with these resources for creating family technology policies.

The hybrid worker’s guide to screen time

How do you keep screen time intentional, healthy and rewarding? It’s a question many of us ask about our screen-glazed kids, but it’s also a question we need to ask of ourselves. Phones, computers and other gadgets are easy to overuse, not simply because we are frail...

A family Minecraft policy

Minecraft has become a global phenomenon because kids love playing it, and parents and educators praise the way it fuels creativity and learning. But we've held off on introducing it to our household because we're concerned about the compulsive behaviour and conflict...

Creating a family social media policy

The ongoing conversation in our home about how to use social media — and in particular, how to do so in a way that is both safe and enjoyable for our kids — has helped us evolve a de facto social media policy governing how we engage with social media as a family. I decided it was time to go from de facto to actual, recorded policy. Use our policy as a jumping-off point for your own.

Workshops

for educators, parents and communities

What do parents need to know about raising kids in a digital world? How can schools address and bridge the profound differences in the way different families approach their kids’ use of technology? Speaking as both a mother and a researcher, I walk you through the challenges that families face today, drawing on data gathered from more than 10,000 North American parents. Your audience will leave with a clear sense of the choices they face, and practical ideas for how they can approach these choices in their own classrooms and families.

Wondering if a workshop is right for your organization? Email me today.