Top Resources

🌟TOP RECOMMENDED DIGITAL PARENTING RESOURCES 🌟

• MCDS Tech Responsible Use Policy (RUP)

• MCDS Digital Wellness Recommendations (DWR)

• MCDS: General Digital Parenting Tips

• MCDS 3rd-8th Grade Tech Survey Results

• The Atlantic: The SmartPhone Kids Are Not All Right

• CSM Report: Constant Companion (Data!)

• What age should you give a kid their first phone?

• NYT: How (and When) to Limit Kids’ Tech Use

• CSM: Parent Concerns

• Polly Ely / The Lab Method--"Tech Talk Deck"

• Digital Learning Lab (Select Your Child’s Age)

• NYT: Why Apps Suddenly Want to Protect Kids

• NYT: You Should Meditate Every Day

• Discussion questions, hypothetical scenarios, and real-life extreme cases

• The Atlantic: Distracted Parenting

• The Atlantic: The Binge Breaker

• Dan Siegel: Social Media

At Home

📊AT HOME FILTERING & MONITORING 📈

• NYT - It’s Not Kids With the Cellphone Problem, It’s Parents

• NYT: Common Sense Approach to Digital Parenting

• At-home Parental Controls Feature Guide

• Apple Native Parental Controls

• YouTube Safe/Restricted Mode

• Google Safe Search

• Bark

• Circle & Circle Go

• OurPact

• Qustodio

• Setting up Screen Time & App Restrictions on iPhone

• Setting up Family Link on Android

• Setting up Parental Controls on Nintendo Switch

• Content Controls on Streaming Sites (Netflix, Hulu, etc.)

• Family Media Agreement Starter Kit

• American Academy of Pediatrics: Family Media Agreement Starter

Learning & Literacy

🤖TECH LITERACY & LEARNING RESOURCES 🎒

• Keyboarding, Math, Grammar, and Other Software Resources Available to MCDS Students

• MCDS Lower School Tech Integration

• Recommended iPad apps: K-4

• CSM: K-5 - NYT: The Two Codes Your Kids Need to Know

• Common Sense Media "Essential Apps"

• Popular App Guide - SafeSmartSocial

• Agnitus Personal Learning Program

• Endless Alphabet

• Endless Reader - Letter School

• Monkey Word School Adventure

• Sago Mini Ocean Swimmer

• Starfall Learn to Read

• Moms with Apps: App Review

• Parents' Choice: App Review

• Teachers with Apps: App Review

• Digital Storytime App Review

• 60 Minutes: Closing the Gender Gap in the Tech Industry

• NYT: Laptops Are Great; Just Not During a Lecture or Meeting

• NYT: Are today's teenagers smarter and better than we think?

• AXIOS: The New School Essential: A Yondr Cellphone Pouch

Social, Gaming, & Screentime

🗣SOCIAL MEDIA, GAMING, & Screentime 🎮

• NYT: Inside the Adolescent Mental Health Crisis

• CSM: Early Childhood Toolkit (Screentime + Content for Littles)

• Mayo Clinic: Tweens, Teens, & Social Media

• Netsmartz: Social Media

• Netsmartz: Gaming

• CSM: Parents’ Guide to TikTok

• Cap Cut Review

• CSM: Parents’ Guide to Brawl Stars

• CSM: Parents’ Guide to Snapchat

• CSM: Parents’ Guide to Instagram

• CSM: Parents’ Guide to Minecraft

• CSM: Parents’ Guide to Roblox

• NYT: When Your Tween Wants to Conform to the VSCO Girl Trend

• Is Photoshopping on Social Media Ethical?

• Netsmartz: Sexting & Sextortion

• CSM: The Facts About Online Predators Every Parent Should Know

• American Academy of Pediatrics: Screen Time Calculator

• NYT: Video Games and Online Chats are Hunting Grounds for Cyberpredators

• Netsmartz: Cyberbullying

• Child Mind Institute: A Parent’s Guide to Dealing With Fortnite

• CSM: How My Child Found Friends on Fortnite

• CSM: Social Media, Social Life

• Setting up Parental Controls on Nintendo Switch

• National Online Safety: Parent’s Guide to Call of Duty

• CSM: Screen Time

• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): Media Use Guidelines

• Lisa Guernsey TED Talk: Screen Time - NYT: The Art of Screen Time

• WSJ: Is Screen Time Bad for Children's Mental Health?

• Netsmartz: Cell Phone Parenting

• Setting up Screen Time & App Restrictions on iPhone

• Setting up Family Link on Android

Media Literacy

📰MEDIA LITERACY 🗞

• CSM: Sex, Gender, & Body Image

• The News Literacy Project (NLP)

• CSM: Violence in the Media

• Dr. Jeanne Kilbourne

• Miss Representation

• The Mask You Live In

• KQED: The Honest Truth About Fake News

• CSM Study: News And America's Kids

• CSM: Media & News Literacy Center (for teachers but also helpful research for parents who need frameworks/language)

AI

🤖 Artificial Intelligence 🦾

• The Effects of AI on Education

• Harvard: Why AI Should Not Be Used in the Classroom

• As ChatGPT Enters the Classroom, Teachers Weigh Pros/Cons

• ChatGPT May Lead to the Downfall Of Education/Critical Thinking

• Can Teachers Detect Chat GPT

• The Future of Learning: How AI is Revolutionizing Education 4.0

• 5 Things That You Should Never Share With Chat GPT

And More…

📚FURTHER DIGITAL PARENTING RESOURCES 📒

• NYT: Human Contact is Now a Luxury Good

• Scientific American: Kids, Tech, and Mental Illness

• QZ.com: This Parenting Approach Could Help Curb Your Child’s Tech Addiction

• Local Digital-Parenting Support Group in San Rafael (run by LMFTs)

• Apple Families - Catherine Steiner-Adair: Family Relationships in the Digital Age

• Center for Humane Technology

• Connect Safely

• Devorah Heitner: Raising Digital Natives

• Digital Glossary - Family Online Safety Institute

• Katie Greer: Online Safety - KidsHealth - Internet Safety - Ozicare: How to Keep Children Safe Online

• TechTalks.Me: local Bay Area Parent Support, Consultation, and Guidance

• Blue Light & Sleep; Streaming Video & Sleep; General Tech & Sleep

• Heard It From A Friend: Digital Parenting Resources & Services

• Court Ruling re: students posting racist memes on Instagram (and its effects at an East Bay high school)

• CSM: Plugged-in Parents of Tweens & Teens

• The Atlantic: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?