<\/p>\n
\n“In truth, research findings about technology are almost always more nuanced. Admittedly, nuanced findings don’t make for the snappiest headlines.”<\/em> (p.17)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Few topics in education generate more passionate opinions than teenagers and technology – specifically ‘screen time’ and ‘GenAI’. This book focuses on screen time, but much can be applied to our current conversations around GenAI and the role that educators and parents can play.<\/p>\n
Ask almost any educator or parent whether smartphones and social media are helping or harming young people and you’re likely to receive an immediate answer. Headlines often reinforce those positions, presenting technology as either the root of a mental health crisis or an indispensable tool for modern life.<\/p>\n
Emily Weinstein and Carrie James ask us to pause before choosing a side.<\/p>\n
Their book, Behind Their Screens<\/em>, invites us to understand something far more important: the lived experiences of the young people who navigate these digital spaces every day.\u00a0 The authors don’t attempt to settle the debate over whether technology is “good” or “bad.” They let us into the perspectives of youth.<\/p>\n
Throughout the book, the authors continually:
\n(1) Bring in the voice of students through quotations. These serve to punctuate how nuanced and complex this discussion is. These quotations really stuck, and stay with me as I consider how to parent my own kids in this season of their lives.<\/p>\n(2) Challenge readers to reflect using a simple but powerful protocol:<\/p>\n
\nI used to think…<\/strong><\/p>\n
Now I think…<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
That invitation to reconsider our assumptions may be the book’s greatest contribution.<\/p>\n
You would be interested in this book if…<\/h2>\n
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- you are a parent trying to better understand your child’s digital world.<\/li>\n
- you work with adolescents in schools.<\/li>\n
- you’re interested in the intersection of technology, development, and well-being.<\/li>\n
- you’re looking for research rather than sensational headlines.<\/li>\n
- you believe understanding young people begins with listening to them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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