A Hugely Helpful Facebook Group
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Resource Recommendations to Help You Parent and Mentor Most Effectively
This Week's Recommendation:
"Parenting in a Tech World"
Facebook Group
Why It Matters
Is there anyone who thinks that "parenting in a tech world" is easy?
The 583,000 members of this active Facebook group help parents navigate all of it by answering questions, providing technology recommendations, giving insights on games and apps, sharing their own experiences, offering advice, etc.
How to Use it
Parenting in a Tech World has two great uses.
First, you can literally ask any question related to parenting in a tech world and get dozens or hundreds of responses. Questions can range from practical to situational to philosophical. You can post your question anonymously.
Second, it's extremely eye-opening; for example...
As parents share all the restriction "workarounds" their kids have found, it's amazing how sneaky even the best kids with positive parental relationships can be.
It's one thing to read about chatbots. It's another thing to see screenshots of the sexual conversation a chatbot had with someone's 11-year-old son, who wasn't even trying to engage in sexual dialogue.
It's surprising how teens can use seemingly harmless apps to access inappropriate content. Did you know porn is accessible on Spotify? Did you know that kids and teens can access web browsers through countless apps, even when a parent has removed their access to browsers like Safari and Google?
People have different opinions and parenting styles, and many people are eager to share theirs. Many posters say they're "not looking for parenting advice" so that responders know they only want answers and solutions.
A lot can be learned simply by reading others' posts!
You can also use the search field (the magnifying glass on the right near the top of the discussion page) to find previous posts related to your own questions.
I've noticed in the group that many parents buy technology or allow apps without fully understanding its implications for their kids and teens and then come to the group when they begin experiencing problems. This is a great group to use before buying new technology. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the technology? What have other parents' experiences been? What are the best ways to protect or equip kids and teens specifically for that device or app? How do kids and teens use it for uses other than intended?
Share your own experiences so that other parents can learn from them!