10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World

Practical Tips From Dr. Jean Twenge

In this episode of "How to Feel Alive," host Catherine Price sits down with Professor Jean Twenge to discuss her newest book, 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World. The book isn’t just about what not to do; it also provides concrete guidance for how to set boundaries about technology AND give your kids opportunities for more real-life fun.

Subscribe to "How to Feel Alive" (a newsletter and podcast by health and science journalist, Catherine Price):

catherineprice.substack.com

Get the book:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/10-Rules-for-Raising-Kids-in-a-High-Tech-World/Jean-M-Twenge/9781668099995

Subscribe to Jean Twenge's Substack newsletter:

https://www.generationtechblog.com/

Jean Twenge’s 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High Tech World

Note: This list is just a tease; it is not meant as a substitute for buying and reading the book!

Rule #1: You’re in charge

Rule #2: No electronic devices in the bedroom overnight

Rule #3: No social media until age 16—or later

Rule #4: First phones should be basic phones

Rule #5: Give the first smartphone with the driver’s license

Rule #6: Use parental controls

Rule #7: Create no-phone zones

Rule #8: Give your kids real-world freedom

Rule #9: Beware the laptop—and the gaming console, and the tablet, and . . .

Rule #10: Advocate for no phones during the school day.

In this episode of "How to Feel Alive," Catherine Price talks with Cas Holman, author of a new book called Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking, Inspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity. Subjects covered include the importance of intrinsic (versus extrinsic) motivation, and why play is essential—for adults, as well as kids!

Learn more about Cas’s work: https://casholman.com/

Learn about Cas’s inventions, Rigamajig and Geemo:

https://www.rigamajig.com/

Cas’s episode of Abstract: The Art of Play on Netflix!

Cas Holman: The Art of Play

Learn more about Playful:

 https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/736596/playful-by-cas-holman-with-lydia-denworth/ 

Cas’s Instagram: @casholman

https://www.instagram.com/casholman/

Rigamajig Instagram: @rigamajig_toy

https://www.instagram.com/rigamajig_toy/ 

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cas-holman-7b9baa5

Announcing a new podcast episode: an interview with a friend and colleague of mine (and fellow author and Substacker!), Katherine Johnson Martinko. Katherine and I first met several years ago when she asked me to blurb her book, Childhood Unplugged, and—after quickly falling in love with the book—I realized that we share more than just a first name: She and her husband are committed to raising their kids (they have three sons) with an abundance of real-world experiences and opportunities for free play—and a minimum of screens.Sometime last fall Katherine joined me for a conversation about phone time, play time, technology, boredom, and hamsters (yes, hamsters) and I’m thrilled to finally be sharing it with you.

“When you take away the screens, you are opening your child to the world.”—Katherine Martinko

Sign up for Katherine's Substack newsletter at katherinemartinko.substack.com

Thank you to everyone who tuned in to my Substack live today with meditation expert, 10% Happier host, and former Good Morning America and Nightline anchor, Dan Harris!

As most of you know, I’m in the midst of hosting a February Phone Breakup Challenge, which is a chance for readers to go through the 30-day plan from my book, How to Break Up With Your Phone, with other people. This week of the breakup is all about how we can rebuild our phone-atrophied attention spans, and I thought Dan would be the perfect guest for my first-ever Substack live.

Turns out I was right! I had a great time talking with Dan about phone-induced anxiety, our atrophied attention spans, and how mindfulness and meditation can help with both. (We also talked about what mindfulness and meditation actually are.)

We then did a 5-minute live meditation together (it starts around minute 20), which was a wonderful, grounding break in my own day—and which I hope gave some of you a firsthand taste of what mindfulness meditation is all about. (Pro tip: if you notice that you’re getting distracted, you’re suceeding.)

Check out the preview above to hear the first part of our conversation, and become a paid subscriber to hear the full conversation and do the meditation with us.

Also, as a reminder, Dan hosts regular live meditations over on his own Substack (and shares special insights from his podcast, 10% Happier) — so if you haven’t already, I encourage you to head on over and become a subscriber: DanHarris.com

To scrolling less, living more, and finding moments of calm amidst the chaos,

Catherine Price

Friends:

Today’s newsletter is a quick reminder that Monday is the official start of the February phone breakup challenge—your chance to go through the 30-day phone breakup plan in How to Break Up With Your Phone with other people.

As a reminder, “breaking up” with your phone doesn’t mean dumping it completely (unless you want to!). It means creating better boundaries with your smartphone and a relationship with technology that feels healthy. I don’t know about all of you, but given the chaos of the world right now, this is something I personally really need to work on, too.

The challenge will officially begin on Monday, February 3rd and will culminate in an invitation to join the “How to Feel Alive” community in participating in the Global Day of Unplugging, which is March 7-8. The goal is to end the challenge with a new relationship with your phone that feels good.

How do I participate?

First, get a copy of the revised edition of How to Break Up With Your Phone, which will be officially released next Tuesday, Feb 4th— it contains the 30-day plan that we will be following. (You can pre-order the print and audiobook now; the ebook will be released on February 4th.)

Next, choose your subscription level:

* All subscribers (paid and free) will receive a substack newsletter from me each Monday featuring high-level advice and suggestions based on that week of the book’s 30-day plan.

* Paid subscribers will have access to a private “phone breakup support group chat” on Substack where they can interact with each other (and me!), provide accountability, ask questions, and share experiences, resources and advice.

Invite People to Join You

Lastly, I recommend recruiting a few friends or family members to join you (phone breakups are always more fun and more effective with other people). Simply share this newsletter and tell them to subscribe and order a copy of the book.

I’m in! How do I join the chat?

I just posted our first pre-game prompt, with instructions for what to do before we officially begin on Monday. You can hop in any time (and I’ll be back myself next week!):

NOTE: Substack’s Chat is separate from the comments section below each post. It is a different space where we can post about our experiences, share resources, ask each other questions, and give each other support. It is exclusively for paying “How to Feel Alive” members.

More questions? Check out the FAQ.

For more instructions on how to use Substack’s chat feature—and for general questions about the challenge—please check out my FAQ post, which has detailed instructions for how to participate via both desktop (recommended, given our goal!) or the mobile app.

Thanks in advance for your patience as I figure this all out—this is an experiment for me, too!

To scrolling less and living more—and creating better boundaries with our phones together.

Catherine Price

You know those lockable phone bags that are being used to create phone-free spaces in schools and at concerts? Those are Yondr pouches. Join Catherine Price as she talks with Graham Dugoni, founder and CEO of Yondr, about what inspired him to create Yondr pouches, and his broader thoughts about how our interactions with technology affect how we experience the world. Warning: it's about to get philosophical.

More about Yondr: https://www.overyondr.com/

Subscribe to the How to Feel Alive newsletter and podcast, from Catherine Price (author of How to Break Up Wtih Your Phone and The Power of Fun): https://catherineprice.substack.com/

Follow along with Catherine's occasional Instagram posts, which are meant to actually be useful: https://www.instagram.com/_catherineprice/

Join Catherine Price, author of the How to Feel Alive Substack (as well as books including How to Break Up With Your Phone and The Power of Fun) as she talks with Ross Gay, poet, teacher, and author of books including The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy.

Links to Ross's work (and to the other authors and books he mentioned in our conversation):

https://www.rossgay.net/

His books, which include but are not limited to: The Book of Delights, The Book of (More) Delights, Inciting Joy, Be Holding, and The Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude: https://www.rossgay.net/books

Books and authors Ross mentioned that he thinks you should check out:

Elaine Scarry, On Beauty and Being Just : https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691089591/on-beauty-and-being-just

Bernadette Mayer, Midwinter Day: https://www.ndbooks.com/book/midwinter-day/

Lewis Hyde: The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World : https://lewishyde.com/the-gift/

Robin Wall Kimmerer - Ross describes her as “one of the most beautiful articulators of gratitude.” https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/

Listen to a talk by Catherine Price, founder of Screen/Life Balance and author of How to Break Up With Your Phone, about kids, smartphones, and social media. In addition to running through some of the risks and threats, Catherine provides several new frameworks for how to make decisions about children and technology, and provides actionable, evidence-backed resources, a sample community pledge -- and a plan.

Warning: this talk contains several obscenities and the discussion of subjects that some listeners may find disturbing, including suicide, sextortion and pornography.

For a written description and a link to the slide deck and other resources mentioned in the talk, please visit:

https://catherineprice.substack.com/p/resources-for-kids-smartphones-social

Today I’m pleased to bring you a new episode of the “How to Feel Alive” podcast: a conversation between me and Devin McNulty, who writes the Substack newsletter and is Funmentum Labs’ co-founder and “brain-tender-in-chief.”

In today’s episode, we tackled challenges from three readers:

-Someone who works at a nonprofit and is struggling getting her employees and co-workers to meet deadlines (which touches on the broader question: how do you motivate people without nagging them?)

-Someone who is a stay-at-home mom with multiple kids (and a very challenging collection of family dietary preferences), who is trying to figure out if there is any way to possibly make cooking feel more fun (how can you make your own daily drudgery feel more tolerable?)

-Someone who used to have a boss who talked about the importance of fun at work — but in fact made work the opposite of fun

As a reminder, all members of the Fun Squad (my term for my paid subscribers) are welcome to ask us questions in this forum, and we will do our best to personally answer them in a future episode.

To scrolling less and living more — at home, at work and beyond,

Catherine Price

Join the Fun Squad at catherineprice.substack.com/subscribe?

Learn more about Devin McNulty and Funmentum Labs: Funmentum.com

Scroll less and live more with "How to Feel Alive," a podcast from journalist, author, and TED speaker Catherine Price about how to fill your life with more fun, adventure, joy, connection, and delight.

In today's episode, Catherine speaks with Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author of books including The Power of Habit and Supercommunicators, about how to have better conversations and avoid the horrible awkwardness of small talk.

For more written advice, inspiration, and stories, sign up for Catherine's Substack newsletter: "How to Feel Alive." (catherineprice.substack.com) And be sure to subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when the next episode is available.