Children Fail to Recognize Online Ads, Study Says

It is exactly because merchandisers can use powerful cutting-edge psychological tools on kids interacting with technology, and for other very good reasons, that parents urgently need to be empowered and educated and given their own tech tools too to safeguard and manage kids’ media consumption.

As a child psychiatrist and media / kids expert and author I believe that parents too need a mindset and system of thinking to help them cope with the myriad boundary-blurring challenges that rapidly-evolving technology is forcing on us all. It is time to level the playing field. And parents do have a home-court advantage in shaping kids’ media consumption, not only in the here-and-now but also for the future, by accustoming kids to good media habits.