The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life

by Anya Kamenetz

Overview

Finally: an evidence-based, reassuring guide to what to do about kids and screens, from video games to social media.
Today's babies often make their debut on social media with the very first sonogram. They begin interacting with screens at around four months old. But is this good news or bad news? A wonderful opportunity to connect around the world? Or the first step in creating a generation of addled screen zombies?

Many have been quick to declare this the dawn of a neurological and emotional crisis, but solid science on the subject is surprisingly hard to come by. In The Art of Screen Time, Anya Kamenetz -- an expert on education and technology, as well as a mother of two young children -- takes a refreshingly practical look at the subject. Surveying hundreds of fellow parents on their practices and ideas, and cutting through a thicket of inconclusive studies and overblown claims, she hones a simple message, a riff on Michael Pollan's well-known "food rules": Enjoy Screens. Not too much. Mostly with others.

This brief but powerful dictum forms the backbone of a philosophy that will help parents moderate technology in their children's lives, curb their own anxiety, and create room for a happy, healthy family life with and without screens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610396738
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	01/30/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	942 KB

About the Author

Anya Kamenetz is the lead digital education correspondent for NPR. Previously she worked as a staff writer for Fast Company magazine. She's contributed to the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Slate, and O, the Oprah Magazine, and has won multiple awards for her reporting on education, technology, and innovation. She is the author of three books on education and technology, Generation Debt, DIY U, and The Test. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Part I Kids and Screens

1 Digital Parenting in the Real World 3

2 The (Sometimes) Scary Science of Screens 11

3 Emerging Evidence 33

4 You Have the Power: Positive Parenting with Media 57

5 An Hour at a Time: How Real Families Navigate Screens 93

6 Screens at School 117

Part II Our Own Devices: Parents and Screens

7 The Mom with Her Phone at the Playground 141

8 Modern Families: Parents and Screens 167

9 The Future of Digital Parenting 195

10 TL;DR: The Art of Screen Time in Five Minutes 221

Notes 225

Index 253

Editorial Reviews

…[an] unpanicky, thoughtful critique.

The New York Times Book Review - Pamela Druckerman

"How to deal with devices and screens is one of the biggest challenges for today's parents. With The Art of Screen Time, Anya Kamenetz comes to the rescue. Marshalling the latest science, she provides an indispensable guide to helping children-and families-thrive in the digital age."—Arianna Huffington, CEO ofThrive Global

"Finally, a reasonable, well-researched argument to cut through all the hype, fear and hysteria around screens, kids, families, and our most precious and limited resources: our time and what we pay attention to. Screens are here to stay. Anya Kamenetz provides a welcome, science-based guide for all of us to learn how to use them wisely."—Brigid Schulte,award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestsellerOverwhelmed: Work, Love & Play when No One has the Time, and directorof The Better Life Lab at New America

"Blending scholarly evidence and the experiences of numerous families, The Art of Screen Time is a well-researched and reassuring guide to raising kids in a world where technology is everywhere."—Danah Boyd, authorof It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens

"A thoughtful, evidence-based guide to technology that reads like having a conversation with a good friend-who also happens to be incredibly smart, honest, and witty.... Refreshingly, Kamenetz is a realist and does not condemn technology in the home.... [she] sheds a critical, yet supportive light on our relationship with technology...a must-read for any parent."—Booklist

From the Publisher

Author Anya Kamenetz narrates with both chatty enthusiasm and the measured determination of someone who’s serious about her message. Her appealing vocal personality makes it easy for listeners to absorb the research she cites about how TV, personal computers, and smartphones impact child development and family life. Writing with a good ear for narrative flow, she also keeps her listeners close by connecting her practical suggestions to her own parenting experiences and those of the many other parents she interviewed. Her major conclusions are that moderation with screens is important, especially for kids with emotional or social handicaps, and that enjoying their devices can be healthy for children if it involves other people and doesn’t crowd out other ways of interacting with the world at large. T.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2018 - AudioFile

Author Anya Kamenetz narrates with both chatty enthusiasm and the measured determination of someone who’s serious about her message. Her appealing vocal personality makes it easy for listeners to absorb the research she cites about how TV, personal computers, and smartphones impact child development and family life. Writing with a good ear for narrative flow, she also keeps her listeners close by connecting her practical suggestions to her own parenting experiences and those of the many other parents she interviewed. Her major conclusions are that moderation with screens is important, especially for kids with emotional or social handicaps, and that enjoying their devices can be healthy for children if it involves other people and doesn’t crowd out other ways of interacting with the world at large. T.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2018 - AudioFile

2017-10-17
Advice for parents on how to deal with the intrusion of digital media into family life.What does it mean that children today spend more of their waking hours on electronic media than on any other activity, including school? NPR lead digital education correspondent Kamenetz (The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed with Standardized Testing—But You Don't Have to Be, 2015, etc.) has done her homework, examining the research on this issue and weighing the evidence pro and con. Unfortunately, the experts have little conclusive data to provide when they look at the possible effects of digital media on aggression, depression, ADHD, and poor performance in school and on standardized tests. Obesity and sleep disorders are the two major problems generally associated with screen time. After reporting on what various experts have discovered (or not), the author turns to parents who have dealt directly with this issue, discussing their rules regarding their children's use of technology. Again, the answers vary in usefulness, but parents reading these stories may find some approaches to adopt as their own. Many readers may choose to skim all but the final chapter, in which the author—who admits "no judgment" if "you don't have any time to read the rest of this book"—gives a 10-point summary of what a parent needs to know. A major point is that sleep and screen time don't mix, which leads to the rule to allow no devices up to an hour before bedtime. Parents will also find advice about engaging with their children on digital media by talking to them about what they are seeing, who they are connecting with on social networks, or even learning to play a video game with them. Ultimately, Kamenetz adapts Michael Pollan's advice about food to screen time: "Enjoy screens; not too much; mostly together."Enough material for a solid magazine piece, stretched out to fill a book. Skip to the last chapter.

Kirkus Reviews