Teenagers will always be teenagers, but thanks to ubiquitous smart phones (and especially their cameras!), and social media, growing up today is fundamentally different from growing up three decades ago.
Back in the early 1990s, widely sharing a photo of someone doing something stupid would have required so many steps (have a camera with you; get the film developed; figure out a way to share it with more than friends and family) that most people would have thought better of it somewhere along the way.
But kids today are growing up in public. Anything you do can be documented and shared widely.
As part of our screen series at Best of Both Worlds, I interviewed Devorah Heitner for this week’s episode on kids and technology. Devorah is the author of Screenwise, which is available now, and the new book, Growing Up in Public, which you should immediately pre-order for fall (we will also remind people about the book and mention it again when it is out!)
Devorah shares how to communicate with the young people in your life about the perils and promises of technology. She talks about the importance of putting the relationship first, and how to handle situations when something goes awry. It is a fascinating topic, and I encourage anyone who’s parenting tweens and teens to give this episode a listen.
In the Q&A we give advice on getting more sleep to a listener who has a poorly-sleeping toddler and another baby on the way. Yep, things are going to be rough, but we have some ideas to make the situation better!