On Tuesday, December 13, the Stratford Landing PTA hosted a Tech Talk Tuesday meeting with families and students. The purpose was to continue discussing how families can facilitate calm, consistent conversations about screen time to improve family dynamics.

We had a wonderful turn out from families, and in between bites of pizza we had meaningful conversations around experiences families were having navigating our digital world with their children. From video games to using social media, our families had many thoughts and opinions about maintaining a healthy technology lifestyle at home. In many instances, students also participated in the conversation and shared their feelings about finding a balance of screen time. It wasn’t a surprise that many students thought rules about screen time were unnecessary 😊 Families were able to have engaging conversations with one another about expectations, rules and how they approach technology and screen time with their family. Mrs. Arting led the evening and shared resources and ideas. Although winter break specific, the ideas and concepts shared are relevant any time of year. Those can be accessed here:  

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1laMSEwy3tLcVcGVnkCLul25ebeJCEJlCXK_3udCfmYc/edit?usp=sharing

Families in attendance agreed that the time together was valuable, and we agreed that quarterly Tech Talks would be beneficial for our community.  As a group we decided on additional topics for discussion that would help support and connect families. Those topics included:

-Apps for families to monitor screen time; time to share out helpful Apps for families; explore Apps together

-Managing screen time for parents; modeling appropriate screen time use for children

-Non-tech events/resources in the local area (parent or school generated list of resources/events)

-Tech used in the classroom (sites and educational resources that can also be accessed at home)

Last school year, our school counselor, Mrs. Kasparek, shared a research-based presentation on the implications of screen time on young children and brain development. This presentation shares recommendations from the American Pediatrics Association, National Institute of Health and Mayo Clinic. This presentation was also shared at our Tech Talk Tuesday and can be accessed here:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15SohuljujlYNlipUe4eUuzef8RLH5811uZpGyefHPVE/edit?usp=sharing

We look forward to hosting future Tech Talk Tuesdays at Stratford Landing. Please join us and become part of the conversation. Our goal is to connect as many of our families as possible.