6 Ways for Families to Manage Technology Use
Over the past few months we’ve shared some great pieces from sexuality educator and researcher Megan Maas. Her post on how to talk to kids about sex inspired a hilarious spin-off by Susan of Pecked to Death by Chickens, “Why I’m Not Qualified To Talk To My Preschooler About Private Parts,” and another of Megan’s posts educated parents about the real down and dirty of social apps that many teens are using.
Now she has a great series on how to talk to kids about porn. I know, right?! As parents, we can’t afford to stick our heads in the sand when it comes to the reality of what kids can view on-line, and Megan does a great job of showing parents we can tackle these tough issues! The post below shares tips for managing your family’s technology use so that kids focus more energy on building off-line relationships, thus reducing the risk of problematic behaviors (like watching porn) on-line. I strongly encourage readers to also check out the first two posts in the series: Preparing To Talk About Porn With Your Kids and 9 Points To Make When Talking To Kids About Porn.
~Ellie, Family Room Editor
by Megan Maas
Over my years talking with parents about sexuality, pornography and their kids, it seems as though everyone just wants to know what button to push, what software to buy, what technique to use, in order to ensure their child never sees porn, talks to strangers about sex online, or sends a “sext.”
Let me be the first to say there is nothing a parent can do to guarantee their child will never do anything potentially dangerous online. There are, however, 6 steps parents can take that will drastically reduce the probability that a child will develop consistently problematic internet behaviors.
Every family is unique, so you need to use the tech reduction strategy that works for you. The following are just some suggestions to get you thinking about how you can change the technology environment in your household. Try something out and adjust as needed. For example, you might want to start with more stringent rules, and then allow more online autonomy as your children get older and demonstrate they can handle the responsibility. Regardless of how you’d like to implement a change, here are 6 tips to get you started.
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ABOUT MEGAN: Megan Maas is a sexuality educator and doctoral candidate in Human Development & Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on sexuality, gender, romantic relationships, and sexual & social media use in adolescence and young adulthood. Born and raised in California, Megan worked in health education and developed a popular lecture series which integrated peer-reviewed information on pornography use into sexual health education programs. Since then, Megan has served as a facilitator, workshop leader, and speaker on issues revolving around adolescent sexuality, pornography use, sexual socialization, and parent-child communication about sexuality at universities and organizations across the country. She also blogs regularly at MeganMaas.com.
Follow Megan on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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