As we’ve researched the topic of screen time over the past year, we have discovered some trusted resources to help all of us learn how to lead our children and teens to living a balanced life in a tech-filled world.
While there are a lot of people sharing headlines and talking about the dangers of too much screen time, the people on this list are actually doing something about it and sharing their knowledge and experience related to technology.
We follow everyone on this list and we will continue to share their ideas (when given permission), along with our own resources and tools.
All of our voices are needed to help our kids. I believe this change will happen one home at a time.
Finding Quality Resources and Parenting Today
- Raise the Good – I met Jen through our work at Power of Moms and I feel lucky to call her a friend. Jen is the mastermind behind the website, Raise the Good. She is an intentional mother who is a natural at gathering the best resources out there. I love her movie lists!
- Raising Today’s Kids, podcast by Brittany Homer: NEW podcast! I am so excited for this podcast. Brittany is only a few episodes in, but I’m loving it. She is a calming presence in a space where it is easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged. Her podcast will give you ideas and hope as each episode contains real stories from real parents (like you!) who have learned something about what it takes to be resilient today.
- EducateEmpowerKids.org – Dina Alexander has been working to help parents with all kinds of sticky conversations for quite some time. I first learned of her when I worked behind the scenes at the Mom Conference and for Power of Moms. She has amazing resources for talking to children about sex, as well as pornography.
- Common Sense Media – Need to find out if that new movie will be appropriate for your kids? Common Sense covers all of the latest movies with reviews from parents and kids. They also share great content to help with all aspects of technology use!
Being Smarter About How We Use Technology
- Parents Who Fight – Sarah and I ran into each other on Instagram earlier this year and it was serendipitous (or divine intervention). We have since Skyped and shared our stories and resources. Sarah and her husband travel to homes and school educating parents how to keep their families safe online! They are a treasure-trove of information on monitoring apps and software.
- The Mom Life Coach – Chelsea is the Mom Life Coach. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Information Technology with an emphasis in Networking and Security. She is a Faith-based Life Coach Academy Certified Life and Parent Coach and shares so many great ideas on Instagram and on her site.
- Wait Until 8th – After talking to a lot of parents and friends, we decided we would wait until our kids were at least 14 to give them a smartphone. It wasn’t until after we decided this that I discovered the Wait Until 8th campaign. It solidified our decision and I love knowing that other parents have decided the same thing. (We actually took it one step further and created a four-phase process we use with our teens.) We have since taken the pledge and are working to share it with other parents in our community. The site also has a lot of great articles that will get you thinking…
- Delaney Ruston/Tech Talk Tuesday: Have you seen the film Screenagers? You are not able to rent or buy the film, but often schools or communities will bring it to the community. It is well worth it! If you are wanting to spread awareness in your community about the pitfalls of too much technology, check it out. In addition to the film, the film’s creator, Delanay Ruston shares a Teen Talk Tuesday via email every Tuesday. It is awesome. She shares so many great ideas, not only from the point of a parent, but as an MD as well. It is an email that I read every week!
- Campaign For a Commercial Free Childhood: CCFC is at the forefront of national efforts to reduce children’s screen time and insure children time and space for active and creative play, face time with caring adults, and a connection with nature. My favorite thing they share are their monthly webinars on a new topic related to technology and children.
Pornography
- Virtual Couch Podcast/Tony Overbay – If you haven’t checked out Tony Overbay’s podcast, the Virtual Couch, I highly recommend it. Tony is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a Certified Mindful Habits Coach. He currently offers a program called The Path Back (TPB). TPB helps people overcome pornography addiction. You can check out the course here.
- Defend Young Minds – As part of our Family Tech Think Tank, we include a discussion with our kids on pornography. Our favorite resource to help with this are two books written by Kristen Jenson, founder of Defend Young Minds. Click here to check out the books: Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr.: A Simple Plan to Protect Young Minds and Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids. *
- Fight the New Drug – Fight the New Drug is a non-religious and non-legislative organization that exists to provide individuals the opportunity to make an informed decision regarding pornography by raising awareness on its harmful effects using only science, facts, and personal accounts. If you want to help your family better understand the effects of pornography this is a great resource.
We also want to let you know that in addition to our Instagram and Facebook accounts, we have a Facebook Group. We would love to have you join us there!
Our Facebook Group is just getting started. It is a place for you to express concerns and get the help and support you need with any screen time dilemmas you might be having in your home. I’m also sharing a FB Live video on occasion to give you quick actionable tips to help you right away.
Do you have a favorite resource we should add? Keep in mind we are looking for communities with an online presence who share tools and resources, not just headlines. 🙂 Thank you!
*As an Amazon affiliate I earned from qualified purchases.
