Common Sense Media helps families navigate the world of 24/7 media and technology by offering free age-based ratings and reviews for movies, TV shows, books, games and apps — plus parenting advice and public policy recommendations. This national nonprofit recently opened a Phoenix office. We invited Arizona Director Ilana Lowery to explain what the organization will be doing locally for parents, kids and teachers. Here’s what Lowery shared:
Common Sense Media is a national nonprofit headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Why now Phoenix? The Arizona Community Foundation, Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust and Phoenix IDA [an entrepreneurial nonprofit] stepped up to financially support Common Sense’s work in Arizona. The leaders of those organizations agreed there was a need to expand the mission to our state, and they’ve invested in Common Sense to ensure that children, parents and educators can access tools that maximize the benefits of media and technology in a safe environment.
The organization helps parents grapple with tech. When Jim Steyer founded Common Sense Media in 2003, what specific problem was he trying to address? Jim’s passion always has been to grow Common Sense into the largest child advocacy organization in the U.S. In 2003, he started the conversation about raising kids in the digital age with a book he wrote called, “The Other Parent.” His goal was to call attention to the outsized influence of media and tech on kids’ lives and to empower families with the information they need to be advocates for their children. From the very beginning, his mission has been to protect kids, support digital well-being and help parents and educators set young people on a path to thrive in school and in the 21st-century economy.
How has Common Sense Media’s mission expanded? A few years after introducing its independent ratings and review system for children’s media, parents began turning to teachers for answers about cyberbullying and other challenges they were facing because of the growth of the internet and social media. By 2008, Common Sense developed its K-12 digital citizenship curriculum that addresses top concerns for schools, prepares students with critical 21st-century skills, supports educators with training and recognition and engages the whole community through family outreach. Common Sense also launched the first-ever ratings system to help teachers and parents better understand the educational value of the thousands of new apps that were flooding the market — many of which were aimed at kids. By 2014, Common Sense began to tackle the digital divide by advocating for all kids, regardless of ZIP code or background, to have equal access to technology and the support they needed to build strong digital skills. The following year, Common Sense created community-grounded resources for Spanish-speaking and Latino families.
What is the DigCit curriculum, and how do schools get this for free? More than 700,000 teachers worldwide and schools in all 50 states are using our award-winning DigCit curriculum. Designed and developed in partnership with Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education — and guided by research with thousands of educators — each digital citizenship lesson takes on real challenges and digital dilemmas that students face today, giving them the skills they need to succeed as digital learners, leaders and citizens of tomorrow. We are working with districts across the state to implement the curriculum, which is available at commonsense.org. Districts interested in gaining Common Sense recognition should contact Regional Manager Victoria Saylor at 415-553-6737 for professional development support.
Explain the device-free dinner initiative. By 2016, as personal devices continued to create barriers and compete for our attention, Common Sense introduced a simple, yet powerful idea — device-free dinner — to promote family time and a healthy, balanced digital lifestyle. Visit commonsensemedia.org/device-free-dinner for tips on putting electronic devices away and talking face-to-face for 30 minutes during family dinners.
Common Sense Media just released a new study on “Screens and Sleep” that studied media usage of both parents and teens. What findings are getting the most attention? More teens wish their parents would get off their devices. Fifty-two percent of parents surveyed admitted they spend too much time on their devices, up from 29 percent in 2016; 62 percent of the parents said they keep their phones within reach of their bed; 29 percent of kids said they do. Forty-five percent of parents surveyed say they are “addicted” to their mobile devices; 39 percent of kids say they feel “addicted.”
How do you suggest both parents and kids curtail their smartphone usage? As annoying as constant cell phone use is, it’s a normal part of life for many kids. Staying in touch with friends is important, particularly for tweens and teens. When we parents were teens, we talked for hours on the phone. Now that same kind of contact happens through texting and social media. However, if cell phone use is getting in the way of family time, homework, and other responsibilities, it might be time to help your kids manage their phone time. Here are some suggestions:
- Help kids find space for face-to-face conversations. Put phones down during key conversation times such as dinner or car rides.
- Model the manners and behavior you want to see. Avoid texting in the car. Consider narrating your phone usage — i.e. “I’m looking up directions to the party”— so young kids understand the utility of the device. Make sure to excuse yourself if you have to interrupt a family moment to attend to your phone.
- Charge kids’ phones in your room at night. Removing their phones can give kids a needed break.
- Establish consequences for problematic phone use. If your kids are having trouble putting the phone away when you ask or are engaging in other problematic phone-related behaviors, consider instituting temporary time or location limits. Some wireless carriers offer parental controls that let you set daily phone-use limits, and some apps can disable your child’s phone when he or she hits a limit.
“Using Common Sense” is an exclusive column written monthly by Ilana Lowery for Raising Arizona Kids readers!
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