Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #1259 - How's Life for Children in The Digital Age?

Transcript

#1259 - How's Life for Children in The Digital Age? · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: How is Life for Children in the Digital Age? A
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: brand new report published in the last two weeks by
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the OECD. I don't even know what it stands for,
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  Speaker 1: the Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development or something like that. Ah,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: we see they have publish this big report all about
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  Speaker 1: what is going on with our kids and screens. You
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: already know before we start the pod that's going to
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  Speaker 1: be bad. But how bad The stats are going to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: blow your mind. Hello and welcome to the Happy Families Podcast,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Real Parenting Solutions every day on Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: We are justin and Kylie Colson. Kylie, you've got the
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  Speaker 1: stats in front of you. Hit me with them. These
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  Speaker 1: are I don't want to be one of those oh
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  Speaker 1: my goodness, the sky is falling kind of people When
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  Speaker 1: I look at these.
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  Speaker 2: They don't want to be a Henny Penny correct.
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  Speaker 1: But I feel like if you're a parent child has
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  Speaker 1: a screen in the hand, you just need to know
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  Speaker 1: that this is going on.
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  Speaker 2: Statistic number one, Australian teenagers are spending fourteen nine hours
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: per week on screen. That's including school work.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's seven hours a day that they're staring
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  Speaker 1: at a screen. Once you take sleep out as well,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Let's say ten hours, seventeen hours of the day is
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: gone for sleep, You've got travel, a what sort of stuff?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: There's not a lot left for life. Seven hours per day,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: but that's on average. What was the sort of higher end.
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  Speaker 2: Twelve percent are spending over eighty hours per week. That's
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: more than a full time job.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Well, it's double at full time jobs forty hours a week.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: So more than one in ten twelve percent eighty hours
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: a week on a screen. You do the maths, it's
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: more than ten hours per day. In fact, hang on maths,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: it's more than eleven hours per day. More than eleven
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  Speaker 1: hours per day on a screen. Twelve percent of kids.
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  Speaker 1: There there's also some stats around how many kids at
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: a young age owned smartphones.
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  Speaker 2: This is blowing my mind. Seventy percent of ten year
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  Speaker 2: old already have their own smartphone.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so the OECD uses the word own. Let's be
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: really clear, no ten year old owns a smartphone, and
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  Speaker 1: if they do, I don't want. I don't want a
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  Speaker 1: parent shame. But kids shouldn't be owing smartphones, especially at
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  Speaker 1: the age of ten.
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  Speaker 2: I'm actually speechless because we talk about screens and the
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: challenges that we're experiencing on a weekly basis on the podcast.
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  Speaker 2: So this is not unknown.
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  Speaker 1: So maybe only thirty percent of Austraian parents listen to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: what we're saying. I don't know of ten year olds
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: are already on a smartphone. There are two other important
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  Speaker 1: stats that we've pulled out of here that we think
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  Speaker 1: just need highlighting, flashing lights.
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  Speaker 2: Nearly one in five teens spends more time gaming than studying.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: At school yep, okay.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: And the last one is sixty percent of Australian girls
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: report severe distress from cyberbullying.
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  Speaker 1: So just just pause on that. That needs a moment
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  Speaker 1: to breathe. Sixty percent, nearly two Australian girls. They're not
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: just reporting cyber bullying, they're reporting quote unquote severe distress,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: severe distress.
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  Speaker 2: And we're amongst the highest globally.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the only people who beat us are
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I think we're number two. I think we're number two,
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  Speaker 1: with the US being just in front of us. And
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  Speaker 1: this is not one of those lists that you want
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  Speaker 1: to be on the top of. So following on from
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  Speaker 1: yesterday's discussion with Scott Novis, the former Disney vice president,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: where we previewed Saturday's major interview about kids in gaming.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: I just want to reinforce a couple of things that
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: he said and that we touched on yesterday or that
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: will be touched on on Saturday. And I was through
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: this really quickly because we need to know it, but
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  Speaker 1: we don't need to dwell on it because we talk
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  Speaker 1: about it all the time. Number One, games and social
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  Speaker 1: media are engineered with dopemine release triggers and unpredictable rewards.
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  Speaker 1: You get that variable ratio reward to sustain engagement and
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  Speaker 1: get you and your kids hooked. That's literally what they're
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  Speaker 1: trying to do. They're maximizing engagement, maximizing addiction, wanting to
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  Speaker 1: make our children, who are the most vulnerable, drawn in
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  Speaker 1: for prolonged use. We know from the OECD data ten
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: percent of teens are reporting problematic social media use. That's
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  Speaker 1: up from seven percent five years ago. It's a three
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  Speaker 1: percent increase, not massive, but at a problematic level. Ten percent.
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  Speaker 1: Seventeen percent of fifteen year olds feel anxious when they're
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: without their devices. I think that that's an underestimate. I
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: know that when I talk to adults, pretty much seventy
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: percent of adults feel quite anxious without their devices. I
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  Speaker 1: know it happens to me from time to time. I
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  Speaker 1: love it and then I hate it. And boys are,
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  Speaker 1: consistent with previous year's research, much more prone to gaming
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  Speaker 1: disorders and girls to social media addiction.
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  Speaker 2: In some ways, I'm really blown away that we're still
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: having to have this conversation. But the reality is screen
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  Speaker 2: usage is having such a massive negative impact on our kids' lives.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so I'll go through the things that we talk
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: about all the time. You can add any that you
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  Speaker 1: think that I've missed. We usually talk about excessive use
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  Speaker 1: being linked to depression, anxiety, loneliness, academic struggles, sleep deprivation,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: lack of exercise, physical activity, that kind of stuff. Then
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: there's the content issues what your children are actually being
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  Speaker 1: exposed to, which I think are probably the biggest things.
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  Speaker 1: They're the ones that jump out at me immediately because
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  Speaker 1: we talk about them all the time.
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  Speaker 2: Pornography, violence, and sextortion.
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  Speaker 1: Yep, yeah, yeah, I mean we had Julian mcgrant talking
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  Speaker 1: about sextortion not long ago, and Tinag boys being being
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: taken for an absolute ride and sometimes losing their lives
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  Speaker 1: because of this stuff. We know that our Australian kids
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: are among the most distressed because of online harassment. There's
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: genuine damage and that's stuff that's happening to our kids
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  Speaker 1: based on what's happening online. I think there's one more
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  Speaker 1: thing that we really need to highlight here as a
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  Speaker 1: genuine concern, a big problem that comes from this, and
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  Speaker 1: it's that family relationships blow up, like there's so many
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: wars in bedroom doorways and in living rooms where parents
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: are walking in and saying, get off your screen. I've
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: had enough of this, We're done. There's a guy called
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Marshall Rosenberg. I've got his book, in fact, i'm touching
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: it right now, right above my head on my bookshelf.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: It's called Non Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg. He died
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: a few years ago.
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  Speaker 2: But.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: He's pretty what's the word for it, It's pretty dry,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: not the most inspiring guy to listen to or read,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: but his models and his ideas are just brilliant. And
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: what we're describing here, this family conflict, he would call
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that violent communication. He's got a model of how we
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: can communicate non violently around challenging things. We might do
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: a podcast episode about it sometime in the next couple
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: of weeks. It's really really good stuff. So after the break,
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  Speaker 1: I want to share a couple of things. First off,
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  Speaker 1: four uncomfortable truths about what the OECD have discovered about
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: children and their screen use. And then just a handful
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: of directives, a handful of really simple things that you
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  Speaker 1: can do based on your child's age to protect them
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  Speaker 1: from the disaster that the screen world invites into their lives. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: so four things, four uncomfortable truths that this OECD report
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  Speaker 1: has life for children in the digital age brings up
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  Speaker 1: for me that I think every parent needs to know.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot here. I want to go through it quickly, Kylie.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't really broken this down for you, but I've
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: given you the four headlines, so you walk me through
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  Speaker 1: it and I'll add the color and flavor that needs
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: to be there.
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  Speaker 2: So your child's real world problems predict their digital problems.
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  Speaker 1: Here, So basically, if your child is having real world problems,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: they're likely to have digital problems, and there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be a correlation between the two. So what you often
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: find is that if your child is not doing well
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: in the real world around physical activity or relationships, or
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: if things about in the family. Guess what, They're at
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: greater risk of digital addiction, right because they turn to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: the screens because they're not doing well. The OECD found
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: that kids with behavioral issues, kids with low levels of
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  Speaker 1: resilience and psychological well being are the most vulnerable. They
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  Speaker 1: found that this number grabbed me. Nearly half of all
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  Speaker 1: teens forty six percent of teens are using social media
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: to get away from the negative feelings, so they're not
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  Speaker 1: addicted to screens as much as they're just saying I
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  Speaker 1: don't like my reality, and the screen gives me the escape.
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  Speaker 1: It supports my basic psychological needs in ways that the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: analog world can't.
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  Speaker 2: But the crazy thing is they get online and then
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  Speaker 2: they find themselves spiraling in this world of competition and comparison,
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  Speaker 2: and they can never meet up to the standards that
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  Speaker 2: they're seeing.
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  Speaker 1: The belief that the perfectible life is out there and
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  Speaker 1: it's devastating. And the more time they spend online, the
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  Speaker 1: more everything else deteriorates as well.
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  Speaker 2: Number two, most parents are fighting the wrong war.
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  Speaker 1: Ye, So I want to speak directly to parents who
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: are trying to have these violent conversations, and I use
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  Speaker 1: the word violence really, really intentionally here. I'm not suggesting
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  Speaker 1: that parents are quote unquote violent physically, but when we
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  Speaker 1: say things like that's it, I've had enough, You've got
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  Speaker 1: five minutes to go, and then I'm switching it off,
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  Speaker 1: there's a threat, okay, and the threat to a child
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  Speaker 1: can feel it's a really triggering word, but it can
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  Speaker 1: feel violent to them. I'm going back to the Marshall
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  Speaker 1: Rosenberg thing. How can we communicate in a non violent way.
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  Speaker 1: When we're imposing time limits in a punitive way, we're
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: fighting the wrong war. I think what works better than
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: time restrictions is making sure that we're talking about content.
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  Speaker 1: Time restrictions matter too, but content is the bigger issue
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  Speaker 1: for me. Children who come from neglectful or authoritarian home
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: show much higher rates of gaming disorder and other challenges online.
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  Speaker 1: So again, this is a parenting issue. Either the parents
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  Speaker 1: don't care, that's the neglectful side, or they're pushing too hard.
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  Speaker 1: Force creates resistance. That's where we see the really big problems. Essentially,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: your parenting style matters more than all the filters and
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: all the controls that you can put on it. Autonomy support.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Autonomy support is what we talk about in this pot
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: all the time, non violent communication problem, solving for discipline
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  Speaker 1: rather than punishment for discipline, helping kids to get there.
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  Speaker 1: That's the second, really really uncomfortable truth. Parenting is a
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: big part of this problem.
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  Speaker 2: So you've been using this big word you've been talking about,
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  Speaker 2: the by directional trap.
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  Speaker 1: I can't help it.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: It sounds so academic.
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  Speaker 1: Academic me. I'm a scientist, I'm a researcher. What do
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: you want me to do?
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  Speaker 2: You just break it down for the average mum and dad.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Really simple. Poor mental health leads to problematic digital use.
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  Speaker 1: Problematic digital use worsens mental health. Bi directional me. It
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: goes both ways. Okay, so if you've got one problem,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: that facilitates and builds the other problem. But once you've
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: got that other problem, it also builds the initial problem
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that you had. It's kind of like parential control and anxiety. Like,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: as a parent, when you start to get really really
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: anxious about your child, you become more controlling. And the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: more controlling you are, the more you feel anxious when
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: your child's doing anything that is concerning for you, and
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: so you get more controlling. It's like this never ending
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: spiral or this loop that keeps on going. Fundamentally, kids
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: being on devices, especially around social media, is going to
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: give you this temporary relief and let's say loneliness, but
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: it's going to increase negative emotions the next day. The
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: data actually shows this. There's this temporal delay so that
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: what you're doing today impacts how you're feeling tomorrow. And
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: when kids have a really big day like eleven hours
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: on social media, scrolling just doom, scrolling right and trying
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: to imagine how their life can be as good as
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: everyone else's because it's clearly on the screen everyone else
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: is having the best time ever. Oh my goodness, it's
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: so hard. And what the OEC report also showed in
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: this bi directional trap essentially is that kids turn to
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: online spaces when they're family and their other analog relationships
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: are failing them like real world relationships not working. Go online,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: but those relationships are hollow, hollow imitations of what a
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: real relationship needs to be. For the most part, now
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: are their support of communities, communities that can make a
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: difference and help you. Of course there are, but that's
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: really what we're what we're dealing with.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: And number four, the parent hypocrisy problem.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to call it parents own modeling. Parents
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  Speaker 1: own device usage interferes with parenting, makes parents distracted, and
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: it creates more conflict, and the kids don't want to
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: listen to you because you're getting it wrong.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: So I just think what we're you're not talking about
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: parents owning it. You're talking about their specific interactions with
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: their screens.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Correct. Absolutely, And the OECD report I'm not saying it.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: The OECD report is showing it. The kids are saying,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: my parents are on the device all the time. It
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: creates conflict between us. But also they're telling me to
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: get off, but they don't get it off, like what's
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: their screen time like? And this is part of the problem.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: We're modeling it, we're normalizing it. Now kids are saying, well,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: if you can do it, I can do it too.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: It doesn't seem fair, It doesn't make sense.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: So if we find ourselves in this rat race of
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: struggling to communicate in nonviolent ways with our kids when
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: it comes to screens, how can we help parents or
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: navigate this space?
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Like I said, I think that we need to have
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: a conversation about nonviolent communication on the pod In a
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks time, when we've got some space in
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: there for it. It's really really great stuff. And now
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: that I've touched, now that I've put my hand on
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the book, it's kind of making me want to pull
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: it down and read it and go to all of
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: my highlighted bits and pieces. So we will do that.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be a great podcast episode. In the meantime,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: what I really want to emphasize is just a couple
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: of really simple things for each age group. So if
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: you kids are under about the age of I'm going
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: to say seven or eight, first of all, either be
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: present during screen time or don't allow it. Co engage
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: or cut it off. Now that sounds really, really harsh.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: I know that every now and again you want to
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: be able to do a poo without the kids coming
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: into the toil. I'm sorry for being grows, but sometimes
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: you just want to go to the toilet in peace.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: So I get that I'm not hardcore on this, but
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: to the extent that you can be present during screen
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: time or don't allow it. Second thing I would say
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: about cocooning these early years up to about the age
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: of eight is bedrooms are sacred. No devices in bedrooms,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: and you've got to model that as much as the kids.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: And there is a third thing that I quickly want
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: to add, and that is you want to minimize the
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: time that they're spending on games and things that basically
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: turn devices into gambling. For kids, this is where the
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: compelling compulsive use comes in, and this is where they
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: start to get hooked at the earliest ages. We need
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: to keep them away from that as long as possible.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I just think the best thing for kids, if you're
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: going to stick them in front of a screen is
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: ABC Kids, let them watch them Bluie. That works for
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: me best.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: I've got bumbworms. I recently just saw a small reel
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: of a podcast that Jonathan Hate did, and he was
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: talking specifically about the fact that watching a movie with
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: your child is better than all of these short little
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: reels and things like that more times than not.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Because you're not getting that instant dope hit that keeps
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you addicted.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Right Yeah. Well, and you've got characters in there who
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of grow and they've got morals and standards.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: You develop empathy, it teaches values, yeah, absolutely.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: And often you'll watch a movie together, so you've got that,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: You've got that you know, kind of physical connection.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: And a movie has an endpoint it does, whereas the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: YouTube algorithm will just keep on feeding your material for eternity.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about middle childhood. Just three quick things that
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I want to hit here. First of all, your cocuning
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: when kids are younger. As the kids get older, you're
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: now starting to pre arm, but you're building fortresses for them.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: So I'm not huge on family media plans. I don't
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: think they work particularly well for older kids. But for
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: younger kids, and I'm talking like eight to twelve year olds,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: this is actually an opportunity where you still have a
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: fairly high level of cooperative control. That is, you can
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: work things out together, but as the parent, you do
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: get to step in and say, I'm in charge and
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: we've agreed on this, so we're going to make sure
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: it happens like You can really do this with younger kids,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: So work out what works for us, what doesn't, and
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: stick to it, including parents. Second thing, I've emphasized this already,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: but briefly, monitor what they see. Focus on that probably
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: more than how long they're watching it. How long they're
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: watching it matters as well, So it doesn't just place
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: things that matter, but the content, the content is such
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: a thing here and I just reckon at this age,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: they're starting to develop independence, invest in the offline world,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: physical activities, friendships, getting outside nature is feel for the soul.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: All this sort of stuff is armor against digital harm.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: What about our teenagers just three things. We're moving into
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: autonomy support. This is where we really have to pick
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: our battles and we literally say, okay, what do we
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: need to work on. Just remember the stricter you are,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: like rules with that relationship lead to rebellion. It's about
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: autonomy support, get the relationship right, problem solved together. That's
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: where you really want to go. If there are any
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: real world problems addressed, those like the family stress, that's
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: just going to exacerbate the conflict over screens. So if
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: there are any mental health issues, if there's any social struggles,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: you really want to work on that. And I keep
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: on coming back to this. As parents, we have got
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: to model things ruthlessly. We've got to be good examples
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: ourselves or we cannot. We simply cannot ask our children
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: to be ruthless with their own screen usage. You can't
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: lift someone up if you're underneath them. You've got to
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: stand on high ground.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: And go camping.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, just go geeah you and get off the grid.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: It's so good for you. All right. That is the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: OECD report. I know most people aren't going to read it.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: We will link to it in the show notes. It's
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty pages of single space print. Like,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: there's so much there, but if you're interested in it,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: it's called How's Life for Children in the Digital Age?
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I actually recommend it. I reckon there's some really good
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: content there that we do as parents want to be across.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Bottom line. Let's wrap this up. Bottom line, and the
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: responsibility for what's going on in your kids digital lives
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: fundamentally at rests with you. It shouldn't, but it does.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: We've got to wait for the tech companies to stop
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: exploiting our kids. I hate to say, it never gonna happen.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: We need to wait for our politicians to provide the
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: legislation that we need to protect our kids. It's never
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: going to happen. I'm just I'm skeptical because if they do,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the tech companies will well get exploitative and find other
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: ways to get them out of office. I just I
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: just don't believe that it's going to happen. So strong
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: offline foundations your best defense. That's what we need to build.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Hope you've loved the pod a little bit longer than normal.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Such an important topic and so many families are struggling
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: with it, which is why we've spent the time on it.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: The Happy Families Podcast is produced by Justin rule On
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: from Bridge Media. For more info and more resources about
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: this conversation, got a couple of great webinars in the
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Happy Families shop. Go to Happy families dot com dot
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: a U, or pick up a copy of my book,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: The Parenting Revolution, because that's what we really need to
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: get this right.