Let’s be honest, parenting has never been easy. Right? Parenting in the digital age sometimes feels impossible. If you, like me, have kids in high school or younger than they have never known a non-digital world.
Myspace launched in 2003, Facebook: 2004, the iPhone came out in 2007, and let’s not forget AOL chat rooms in the late 90’s. The digital age is here and saying things like “back in my day” or “you don’t know what it’s like to be bored and go outside all day and play” isn’t going to change it. Kids simply don’t know any different.
What we do know is that the digital world is having significant negative impacts on tweens, teens, and even elementary age kids today. 95% of teens have access to a smartphone(1) and 46% say they use the internet ‘almost constantly’(1). While social media isn’t always bad and gives kids a way to connect with friends, teens have also reported that it can overwhelm them and make them feel left out. Maybe worst of all, 23% of teens say it makes them feel worse about their own life(2).
Parenting doesn't come with an instruction manual but these 5 books should be required reading. Here are 5 books I recommend to parents:
1. The Teenage Brain
by Dr. Frances E. Jensen
To help our kids we have to understand our kids. “The Teenage Brain” breaks down “why” teenagers are the way they are. Emotional, irrational, and awesome. This book has helped me get inside the head of my teenagers to help me help them instead of constantly feeling like I’m getting angry and upset at them. It is a must read for any parent that will give dozens of “ooohhhh, that’s why he/she did that” moments.
2. Glow Kids
by Dr. Nicholas Kardaras
This book should be in the hands of every parent in the world. If it was, smartphones and video games would be in fewer hands of kids. Dr. Kardaras breaks, in simple terms, what devices are doing to our kids and the impact it is having on him. The examples he shares will shock you into being much more present and intentional about your child's screen time.
3. Boys Adrift
by Dr. Leonard Sax
Boys Adrift is a guide for any mom or dad of boys. There is a growing trend where young men are less ambitious than in years past. Content to live under their parents roof and not move forward in life. The question is how, and where, did this begin. This book walks through the dynamics of boys, how they think, and what it takes to help them reach their potential.
4. UnSelfie
by Michele Borba, Ed. D.
UnSelfie is a great book for adults to put into practice as well as kids. The book takes a closer look at empathy. Why it’s important, what has happened to it, and how to get it back in our schools. Bullying and cyberbulling has become seemingly more rampant in recent years. UnSelfie and it’s teachings of empathy may very well be the answer to solve most of this world problems.
5. The Chaos Machine
by Max Fisher
Instagram, TikTok, the algorithm, social media addiction. Max Fisher gives you a real inside look at the social media machine. He interviews Silicon Valley executives and employees and goes deep to uncover how social media controls the narrative in our lives. This book uncovers the effects social media psychologically has on us and challenges you to change…before it’s too late.
As Sir Francis Bacon said in 1597 “Knowledge is power”. To help our kids we need to become more knowledgeable about how the teenage brain works and what digital devices do to our kids.
What books would you add to this list?