Genetic-Based Internet Addiction May Be Countered by Parent and Educator Media Management

Link to Original Article

MyDigitalFamily announces several time-saving new features to give educators and parents even more control and convenience in managing online iPad use and establishing good media consumption habits.

A recent study shows that Internet addiction is powered by genetics (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/german-researchers-find-possible-internet-addiction-gene/2012/08/31/681f1724-f37a-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines_nonlocal). Eitan Schwarz, MD, also known as Dr. S, the expert Chicago child & adolescent psychiatrist, Northwestern University medical school faculty member, and inventor of ZillyDilly, responds, “The study needs replication. Nevertheless, genetic determinism is not an excuse for neglecting children’s media consumption. In fact it is a powerful reason to bring strong environmental counter- forces beginning early in life at home to establish good habits.”

Chicago startup MyDigitalFamily announces several time-saving new features to give educators and parents even more control and convenience in managing online iPad use and establishing good media consumption habits. Free ZillyDilly for iPad is a curated sandboxed parenting and teaching tool that safely opens up the richness of the online world to children.

The world’s first media manager for educators and parents of preschoolers through high-schoolers, ZillyDilly can now instantly age-customize healthy websites, time the child’s visits, keep the child on task, and extend caregiver reach wherever the child takes the iPad – home, school, or anywhere else.

Dr. S adds, “As a child psychiatrist, I urge parents to leverage home court advantage and seriously manage kids’ online lives. Currently, the Internet is not a safe toy unless you make it so! It an be a wonderful resource for family bonding with a little effort. Anticipating the future, be careful with crib robots (https://mydigitalfamily.org/2018/03/30/dr-s-opinion-are-crib-robots-good-for-babies-2/)!”

“We re-align technology to better serve kids’ psychological needs and replace their random and chaotic media consumption with a healthy media diet,” according to Dr. S, who has been learning from the many hundreds at homes and schools that are now making ZillyDilly part of their daily lives. New features include:

    • CONTROL ANYWHERE: Classroom-based iPads cannot be used for any other online purpose and the teacher can control and monitor their activity anytime from anywhere. A parent or grandparent can collaborate with the child to optimize his / her online experience from across town or anywhere in the world. Children cannot wander anywhere else or spend too much time online.
    • EFFORTLESS AUTOMATIC SETUP: Educators and parents can now start the child off quickly and conveniently in minutes by adopting the websites expertly preselected for the child’s age. As soon as the parent or educator selects the age, ZillyDilly on iPad can instantly display icons of websites, timed and chosen by Dr. S, to balance growth opportunities in family relationships, socialization, values, and education enrichment with games and entertainment. Parents and educators can tailor the experience for each child any time from anywhere using convenient screens and searches, and can screen for multilingual sites.
    • TEACHING INTERNET CONSUMPTION: “We believe that learning to use the Internet is best started at home with the earliest exposure only with close parent involvement,” according to Dr. S. ZillyDilly is ideal for starting preschoolers online. Parents safely introduce their preschooler by instantly displaying on on iPad just the right number of icons of preselected appropriate websites, many, for example from PBS.
    • HELP IN ENGAGING CHILDREN: Dr. S regularly adds new tips and sensible advice to empower parents and teachers and enable child cooperation and incentives to become good media consumers.
    • EXPERT CURATING AND UPDATING OF WEBSITES: Websites are added and reinspected personally by Dr. S and our editors for appropriateness on an ongoing basis.
  • UPDATED RESOURCES: Our staff adds new links and reviews to the extensive parent and educator resource lists constantly. According to Dr. S, “The informed parent is the best parent. We try to make it as easy as possible.”

Dr. S states, “No need to avoid browsing on the iPad. ZillyDilly tailors the Internet for each child with the kind of curated choices and diversity that no other app can. Exploring online riches with kids is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy play and stimulate their emotional and intellectual growth, while at the same time getting to know them better and cementing your bonds.”


Archived posts

Comments are closed.