207: How do I help my child build a healthy relationship with technology? // Andrea Davis

November 8, 2021

Posted in Teaching Values, Technology, Voice Your Values

Have you discovered your child watching YouTube on their school-issued Chromebook in the middle of the night? Or felt the guilt of realizing that you are checking your phone yet again during a family dinner? Or gone through an entire family car trip without talking to one another because you’re all plugged in to your technology?

These are all real life experiences that have happened to me in the past year, and I know that it is time to get a better handle on the technology-use in our family! That’s why I am so excited to have Andrea Davis of Better Screentime back on the podcast today to teach us how to help our children and ourselves build a healthy relationship with technology.

Andrea is a mom of five who shares a family-tested approach to fewer screen time battles and more peace of mind. She says her goal is to help parents worry less and connect more with their kids, and I am here for that!

Andrea is re-releasing a revised version of her signature course “Creating a Tech-Healthy Family” TODAY, and I am so excited to go through it in the next few months. If you’d like to join me, you can go to 3in30podcast.com/betterscreetime.

Today’s episode will give you an introduction to Andrea’s work, and I know it will impact you as deeply as it has impacted me.

– 3 Takeaways to Help your Children Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology–

Craft a vision for the future. How do you want to use technology today so you can have the relationships you want in the future, 5-10 years down the road from now? This is such an eye-opening and important question to consider, from the time our children are very little.

When your kids are a bit older, schedule consistent tech talks. Consider what you need to talk to them about now before they have more access to tech later. You can get a great starting point for these discussions by purchasing Andrea’s book, Creating a Tech-Healthy Family, or by joining her course of the same name. Both of these resources will help you teach your child to have a healthy relationship with technology.

When your child becomes a teenager and has access to a lot of tech and possibly a cell phone, create a pledge together. This is better than a “contract” with a list of dos and don’ts because it requires your teenager to think about their values and take ownership over who they want to be and how their online behavior is a reflection of that. It will also give you a chance to articulate your values and to make promises to your teen that will build your relationship and your accountability.

Parenting in this modern world is often noisy and overwhelming, but we can do this, and we are doing it. I am so grateful for resources like BetterScreentime that teach us how to develop a healthy relationship with technology-and teach our kids to do the same!

>>>Are these tips about how to build a healthy relationship with technology helpful? What would you add to her takeaways? Tell us in the comments below.

***