Welcome to the new frontier of parenting! Children of all ages are swiping and scrolling, totally transfixed by screens of all sizes. If you have questions on how to take control of the technology in your kids’ lives, you came to the right place.
Media and technology are at the very centre of all our lives today – especially our children’s. As a former Primary School Teacher, and a Computing specialist, I used to use the term “digital natives”. Our kids grow up using technology; only yesterday my own 2.5 year old walked up to the TV and tried to pause it by tapping the screen!
Kids today spend over 50 hours of screen time every week. The media content they consume (and create) has a profound impact on their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Learning how to use media and technology wisely is an essential skill for life and learning in the 21st century. But parents, teachers, and policymakers struggle to keep up with the rapidly changing digital world in which our children live and learn. Now more than ever, we need a trusted guide to help them navigate a world where change is the only constant.
I know that this sounds like I’m being paid to say this, but I’m really not! I just think that all parents should know about this website!
Common Sense Media helps families make smart media choices. They offer the largest, most trusted library of independent age-based and educational ratings and reviews for movies, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books, and music. Their Parent Concerns and Parent Blog help families understand and navigate the problems and possibilities of raising children in the digital age.
Take the Fortnite explosion for example, a few years back. I was teaching Year 5 at the time, and all of a sudden this new game was being talked about by all of my kids, the kids in the class next door, the playground… it was EVERYWHERE. I knew nothing about it, but fortunately I did know about Common Sense Media. So here’s why it’s useful…
There’s no need to sign up or join, this is a COMPLETELY FREE tool. You type in the game, app, film, book, TV show etc. that you want to learn about, and click the correct option. In my example, it’s the Fortnite game at the top of the list, symbolised by the controller icon.
You then get three ratings: one from parents, one from kids, and one from CSM themselves. These are based on reviews from actual people. If you do sign up to a FREE account then you can leave your own reviews. They allow you to quickly assess whether the media you are searching is suitable for your children.
Further down the page, there are a load of options for you to read through, including the /5 rating system. This tells you about violence, language and sex amongst other issues. You can read reviews and information on the media. There’s even a paragraph or two about how to discuss issues within the media with your children!
This is, hand on heart, a fantastic tool for parents and educators. It will help you not only make decisions but also keep updated with what the kids are talking about and using.
Technology moves to quickly, it’s easy to get left behind. So let Common Sense Media be your helping hand – and don’t be afraid of Fortnite, Twist, TikTok or Plunderland! Let’s stay ahead of the groove!