Mindful Media: Supporting Your Family in the Age of Screens
Emily Cherkin, The Screentime Consultant, came to Birmingham in November to speak about navigating our relationships with screens. The Beyond the Screen event, hosted at Innovation Depot, was open to all friends and family of Advent.
Last Spring, APA partnered with Cherkin to conduct a school-wide survey on our thoughts, opinions, and practices around family and school screentime consumption. Results of the survey, such as these below, reveal that this topic is both timely and important.
Overall, our family screentime use is:
- “Way too much” or “more than I’d like”: 71%
- “Fine” or “Less than I’d like”: 29%
According to parents, the most popular gaming & social media platforms used by their kids (i.e. more than 3 times per week):
None: 23%
YouTube: 47%
Texting: 29%
Roblox: 24%
Minecraft: 20%
Video chat, Zoom, Facetime: 15%
Duolingo: 12%
Instagram: 6%
TikTok: 3%
Cherkin’s book The Screentime Solution provides a useful guide to families.
Common Sense Media is also a useful resource for parents navigating kids’ ever-evolving digital content. The website offers reviews of movies, books, apps, and video games, providing information on age-appropriateness and content. This information allows parents to make informed decisions about what their children watch, read, or play.
In addition to reviews, the site presents a range of articles, videos, and activities to help families and schools guide technology use in a way that aligns with their family values. Topics such as screentime, online safety, and digital citizenship are covered through practical, straightforward guides.