Digital Wellbeing & Productivity Expert
Parents
I have very fond memories of my childhood summer holidays. My first thirteen summers were spent camping for six weeks at Coffs Harbour (I’m in awe of my parents who did this on an unpowered site with three kids). We spent most of these holidays going to the beach, surfing, reading (Babysitters Club and Judy […]
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Calls crescendo from parents concerned that their sons are ‘addicted’ to online games. There are a few weeks that pass where I don’t hear from parents tearing their hair out about their son’s (problematic) gaming behaviours. Parents who tell me that their son has punched holes in the all when gaming consoles were peeled from […]
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A common question that many parents grapple with- when is the ‘right’ age to give kids a mobile phone? Put simply, there’s no universal, or prescriptive chronological age that’s deemed ‘right’ or ‘safe’ to give kids a mobile phone. Kids all mature at different rates making it difficult to specify an exact age at which […]
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Screen rules on playdates and sleepovers can be a sticky situation. Just like each family has different rules for snacks, sleep and swearing, approaches to managing digital devices also vary significantly. Families really differ on their tech rules (if you want to see what sort of digital parent you are, you can take my digital […]
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To sharent or not. This is the question perplexing many parents. Documenting our kids’ lives online has become a social norm for many parents. But is it okay to post photos or videos of your children on social media, or blog posts? If you do post online, what are the risks and how can you […]
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As parents, we are so very lucky to be raising children in the digital era. Does it shock you that I said that? It’s amazing that we can video call our children’s grandparent’s on the other side of the world. That we can have group chats with our parent friends so we have someone to […]
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YouTube and YouTube Kids have now replaced TV as the chief source of entertainment for both kids and teens. This media juggernaut (which has over 300 videos uploaded to its platform every single minute!) has kids of all ages flocking to it and it has left many parents confused and concerned about its appeal and […]
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We’ve long worried about the challenges kids and teens face forming healthy body images from the unrealistic images depicted in the media. There’s an established history with the media bombaring kids and teens with unrealistic, sexualised, and stereotypical images and messages about bodies. Today, given the popularity of social media and selfies, these concerns are […]
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WARNING- Content is this blog post may distress some readers. It addresses the issue of pornography. Pornpgraphy isn’t new. In years gone by pornography was available to young people via Playboy magazines (‘hidden’ at the back of the local newsagents), or via VHS videos and more recently via DVDs. What’s new however, is […]
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A 2018 study examined 135 popular free and paid apps for kids under 5 years, the majority of which were downloaded more than 10 million times each and some upwards of 50 million times and found that 95% of such apps included at least one type of advertising, some of which are embedded in games […]
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