Dr. S PUBLISHED COMMENTARY

Kids, Parents and Technology: Blogs/Comments and Articles by Eitan 'Dr. S' Schwarz

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HISTORY OF MEDICINE: THE DECLINE OF LANGUAGE-BASED PSYCHIATRY

Posted March 31, 2018

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on July 4, 2013 ---------- HISTORY OF MEDICINE: THE DECLINE OF LANGUAGE-BASED PSYCHIATRY Eitan D Schwarz MD FAACAP DLFAPA Clinical Assistant Professor Northwestern University Medical School Report from the field: Careful and caring chronicles of one doctor’s recent journeys into some corners of his profession, currently rarely noticed by most colleagues and the public, illuminate issues now in the news with grave implications for all our futures. Some solutions to the basic conflict between the need to create billable records and the delivery of competent language-based psychiatric care are offered, including development of IT systems. In the popular mind, mental hospitals

HISTORY OF MEDICINE NOTE: CLINICAL AND RESEARCH AFTERMATH OF A FIRST MAJOR SCHOOL SHOOTING 1988

Posted March 31, 2018

HISTORY OF MEDICINE NOTE: CLINICAL AND RESEARCH AFTERMATH OF A FIRST MAJOR SCHOOL SHOOTING 1988 3/28/18 It takes a lot of effort and expertise to repair the damage from a school shooting. This is a historical piece that needs telling from the POV of a doctor / hospital division head. The sufferings of survivors and families need tellings in so many other ways and require a massive response. The author managed the clinical and research response to the WINNETKA IL shooting as Evanston Hospital Division Head, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Pediatric Psychiatry 1998-1995. Our doctors were there after the very first senseless

Dr. S Opinion: Are “Crib Robots” Good For Babies?

Posted March 30, 2018

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on July 9, 2012 Brilliantly engineered, intelligent, cute, engaging "Crib Robots" will soon be marketed for infants and toddlers, but will most likely affect brain wiring for core personality and other human qualities. Avoid such devices, despite the fascination, until we know they are safe in the long run.

According to recent NY Times stories, major toy companies are developing and introducing interactive digital media for babies and toddlers (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/technology/in-a-fisher-price-lab-apps-are-childs-play-prototype.html?_r=2, http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/after-14-years-furby-has-returned/?nl=technology&emc=cta4_20120712#comments),

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2013

HELPING CHILDREN (AND YOURSELF) COPE WITH TERRORISM AND OTHER VIOLENCE

Posted March 29, 2018

Helping Children (and Yourself) Cope with Terrorism and Other Violence

Eitan D. Schwarz, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., F.A.A.C.A.P.

CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, FEINBERG SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

CHICAGO, IL

This handout is based on the widely circulated WHAT TO TELL CHILDREN ABOUT TERRORIST BOMBINGS and similar articles written in response to the

A SCHOOL SHOOTING IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME

Posted March 1, 2018

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 9, 2011 Many kids will go unaffected. Some kids (or grownups, for that matter) might get some ideas. But some will secretly see, hear, and almost taste themselves as shooters as they play the shooter. And some bad kids will imitate the shooters in real life. And some ill kids will cross it. And those already somewhat ill but not yet visibly so, the line becomes blurrier and blurrier as their illness blossoms and their judgment shrinks. And that game, that kind of game will surely push them too over that line.

David Pogue Provides a Fascinating Vista

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on April 7, 2011 Bravo, David Pogue. Your story about your youngster's interaction with the vacuum cleaner is fascinating. Fascination is infectious. So, as a child psychiatrist, I am fascinated by how fascinated you seem with your son’s fascination with the tech devices around him. I wonder, has he inherited your fascination with gadgets? Surely, he senses how he is fascinating you. Wow. This reverberating joy, curiosity, and fascination of a human relationship carried over the broadest broadband ever that bridges father and son is exactly what our brains are about and what makes us human (and IMHO way

Schwimmer’s ‘Trust’ Reviewed: Technology / Media Violent to Kids — Parents Need Help!

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 24, 2011 (David Schwimmer and Andy Bellin's important play Trust had a three months' debut run at Chicago's Looking Glass Theater a year ago, and is now resurfacing as a movie. My review of the play follows here.) Trust is a moving portrayal of the life-changing consequences of an Internet romance between an innocent teenage girl and an adult male predator. Easy access and privacy in real time can be dangerous. The truth of Trust and how close it is to all our lives and a threat to our loved ones are powerful. The audience seems to

Q: Is the iPad Good for Kids’ Attention Span? A: Yes, But Only If Parents Manage It for Them.

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on December 18, 2011 Attention is that busy traffic cop pivoting and whistle-blowing in the midst of the streams of information spamming into our minds. These days, the overworked cop is slaving overtime and burning out. Too many of us -- especially kids -- are overwhelmed by too much information. Experts and teachers alike are increasingly worried that the chaotic tsunami of information pouring through iPads, iPhones, iTouches, computers, TVs, androids, and other devices into our children's minds may be overtaxing and damaging brain development, especially how kids learn to pay attention. Many believe we are just

ROBOTS DANCING IN CHICAGO?

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 20, 2011 The fourteen energetic dancers of Hubbard Street Chicago treated us to a mesmerizing interpretation of Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar’s new Too Beaucoup. Clad head to foot in flesh-colored body stockings and matching makeup, the anonymous, seemingly cloned, dancers were driven relentlessly by the persistent breathtaking soundtrack. IMHO, what made this production essential viewing is its exploration of the increasingly busy, and at the same time, fuzzy interface between machine and man, human and robot. The timely dance masterpiece raises urgent points: How and where are human relationships with each other, with cloned

Pew Report: Youth Texting and Media Use Explode, but Parent Limits Have Little Effect

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on April 24, 2014 Cell phones "have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns. Text messaging explodes as teens embrace it as the centerpiece of their communication strategies with friends," declares a current Pew Research Center study. According to the Pew study, 1/3 of kids ages 12 to 17 send up to 3000 texts a month, and according to the recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 1/5 of this age group spend up to 132 hours of their week exposed to media. Both studies show that parental limits have little effect on how kids use the technology that

Advergames: McDonald’s Videogame Marketing to Kids Is a Tech Media Management Challenge to Parents

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on April 21, 2011

Matt Richtel of the New York Times just authored three fascinating related articles about kids' advertising in the digital age.* One describes McDonald's Corp.’s efforts to engage kids in clandestine consumer transactions by having them play free video games. Unfortunately, busy caring parents may have to face yet another difficulty as they attempt to keep their kids' media and food consumption healthy and safe. Parents can learn about the underlying current motives, thinking and changes in kiddie advertising from Richtel's second urgently must-read story. Richtel's third story describes a very well-designed scholarly experiment

Baby Twits to Change Own Diaper

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on May 20, 2013 A wet diaper detector to alarm mom or dad is soon coming to Twitter! So odd, at first. Then funny. "Can't seem to remember to change your baby's diapers? That's what social media is for." LOL. Great piece, Mr. Cooper. But is it? Now for the not-so-funny part. (I usually hate to be a party-pooper or rain on someone's parade.) OK. Taking some of the guesswork out of caring for Baby seems like a great idea without a downside. Who needs anxious uncertainty and guesswork in parenting? The clever idea is so obvious and simple, it seems elegant:

Apple’s iPad iBook 2: Textbook Publishing, Students, Parents, Teachers, and Collaboration

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on April 9, 2014 Apple's recent elephantine entry into the textbook world is another evolutionary step in technology's reach into our lives. Let's hope that like Apple's other innovations, it aligns technology to the well-being of children and families. Apple's iBook 2 is the new elephant in the room for textbook publishing. Many textbooks are already digitized at a basic level. There are general pluses to digital textbooks, including the saving of paper, interactive engageability, customizeabiliy to individual students and those with special gifts or needs, and the orthopedic relief to youngsters who now often schlepp 20 lb book

I Forgot My iPhone. What a relief!

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 19, 2011 The other day I had a sharp momentary panic when I realized I forgot my iPhone. I searched for it desperately. I called it. It was nowhere to be found. I felt naked, exposed, incomplete. I felt a hole in my world. I was suddenly in a silence -- isolated and out of touch with what are surely crucial breaking news from my kids or patients. The feeling is familiar – like when I forgot my wallet or keys -- worry, tightness in the chest and a wave of hollowness in the pit

Dr. Sherry Turkle’s ‘Alone Together’ Brings Alarming News About Kids and Technology

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on January 15, 2011 I feel compelled to share my surprise at my eagerness to share these thoughts with an intelligent readership. This is why: Against a backdrop of awesome discoveries of the wonders of the social brain and delicate ecologies of life, magical interactive technology is tethering almost everyone to everyone and itself with a chaotic, yet strangely compelling buzz. And we respond ourselves without fully knowing or much thinking. And we are changing it. And it is changing us. Like mechanical pigeons we carry our smartphones. The robots are already shaping us. Really. They

Always Connected: The new digital media habits of young children – REVIEWED

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 27, 2011

A well-worthwhile read is Always Connected: The new digital media habits of young children by Aviva Lucas Gutnick et al. My own take is that yet again we are seeing the increasingly potent new technologies relentlessly pushing media towards the very same cradle where we nurture, protect, and love our young infants. Increasingly more kids are increasingly rapidly adapting to and experiencing media at younger ages, even as research findings have not yet cooled the fevered consumption of technology in families. The time has come for

American Academy of Pediatrics Gives Good Guidance. Kids iPad ZillyDilly™ App Safe and Effective Media Manager is Next Step.

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 29, 2011 Although experts all consistently agree that kids need parental guidance to assure safe and effective social media and other online media consumption, there are few real tools available. We need to go beyond safety concerns to truly give families the benefits of technology. Parents need to be empowered, educated and tech tools to assist them. Such an app is coming to the iPad from MyDigitalFamily. ZillyDilly. Here are recent recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics about social media and online safety that provide part of what parents need to succeed. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2011-0054v1.pdf

Family Information Technology (FIT) Solution Pending via iPad App

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on October 29, 2011 In contrast to the ever-growing business, industry, and science endeavors that have successfully aligned synergistically with technology in recent years, the critical Family Information Technology (FIT) space is actually becoming increasingly chaotic, destructive, and misaligned. Experts are worried, and parents are confused and scared as family life is degrading and kids are dumbing down. While it will always keep changing and enticing, the needs of kids and families will not align conveniently and naturally to technology. Studies are confirming repeatedly how the psyco-social development of younger and younger kids is insidiously compromised by

Expert: Make the iPad a Home Appliance Part of the Solution

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 22, 2012 Family Life and Teacher Relationship Must Anchor Youngster Tablet Use THE URGENT PROBLEM: Technology can benefit but may also harm growing and grown brains alike. Source: MUST SEE long but excellent video. BRAVO! MILKEN INSTITUTE for publishing the best perspective yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NcsKGGJAcEs ANSWER I: Face-to-face contact. Strong family life and an interpersonal social context have to anchor us all. Make the iPad a fun family and school appliance. Prevent alone use except for reading and homework. Create face-to-face media-free human interactivity zones and times and prevent interference with mealtimes, family drives, recess, outdoor play

A Child Psychiatrist Takes a Stand on the Dangers & Delights of Digital Media A Plan for Raising Healthy Kids in a High-tech World

Posted December 1, 2017

So, you’re about to have a baby, and there are so many things to do. You decorate your nursery… start interviewing caregivers…and establish a college fund. And, you should start creating a digital media plan, determining how (and how often) your child will use computers, TV, video games, etc. in the years ahead. Parents may not realize it, but they’re hardwiring circuits into their kids’ brains every day. When you give your child unsupervised access to media, you’re basically turning that job over to strangers. Used properly, electronic content is a good thing. But emerging research regarding “media-soaked kids” reveals that technology can

Video Games and Learning from the Norway Massacre About Raising Decent Children: A Veteran Doctor’s POV

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on April 23, 2012 Let's leave the debating to scientists and lawyers and just do what's good for kids! Parents can and should manage children's media and technology consumption better (and we already do know how) – just as they do good hygiene and nutrition. There are those who claim or imply that violent video gaming increased the Norwegian mass killer's skill and/or motivation, while others argue that there is no connection whatever either in this specific tragedy, or in general, between violent gaming and violent behavior (see Eric Kain in Forbes). BTW, The killer himself supposedly

Parents Must Choose: Manage Digital Media Better or Unplug Your Child

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on May 20, 2011 / A Child Psychiatrist Takes a Stand on the Dangers & Delights of Digital Media with A Plan and App for Raising Healthy Kids in a High-tech World / So, you’re about to have a baby, and there are so many things to do. You decorate your nursery… start interviewing caregivers…and establish a college fund. And, you should start creating a digital media plan, determining how (and how often) your child will use computers, TV, video games, etc. in the years ahead. Parents may not realize it, but they’re hard-wiring circuits into their

EXPERT COMMENT: Preparing your kids for the iPad and beyond

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 5, 2012 As the buzz grows louder with Apple's new iPad's launch this week, children will continue to covet the magic tablet more than any other toy. Parents must now keep learning how to better use these devices because these are not toys but actually brilliantly engineered adult tools. In fact, if we really think about it, the iPad is a disembodied robot presaging its more advanced progeny. And in the case of kids, these robots will doubtlessly be settling into their playpens and cribs within less than a decade if we let our

Will Young Cyberbullies Become Adult Wife Beaters? Anonymous Technology Can Hide Abuse and Violence

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on July 7, 2011 A recent multicenter study shows that teen male school bullies will later become perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Dismissing such violent antisocial behavior as “boys will be boys” should be replaced with alarm and rephrasing to “boys who bully will be men who abuse women.” Although cyberbullying may differ in a variety of ways and deserves its own studies, such behavior nevertheless reveals profound deficits of personality that require urgent intervention and ongoing monitoring. See: School Bullying Perpetration and Other Childhood Risk Factors as Predictors of Adult Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration, Kathryn L.

Screen-Free Week a Chance to Start Managing Kids’ Media

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on April 29, 2012 It May Be the Start of Something Big Unplugging media during the annual Screen Free Week, April 30-May 6, is a good start towards increasing awareness of how we've slipped into habitual overuse of screen electronics, and maybe a better lifestyle. "The idea is to encourage folks to experiment with limiting, or better yet, abstaining, especially from TV where youngsters are concerned," according to Eitan Schwarz MD, a Chicago child psychiatrist and child media expert. "I hope this week can be a first step for many families to become more thoughtful about the place

Expert: Kids’ Tablet Wows Need Parent Response

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on February 17, 2012 A Nielsen survey just released shows that 77% (and increasing) of 12 year olds and younger kids in tablet-owning households play games, while 57% access "educational" apps. "But most of the games kids play are solitary, and many of those called "educational" apps have hardly been shown to have any such value, since there is no credible standard for that claim," according to a leading Chicago child-psychiatrist Eitan Schwarz, M.D., also known as Dr. S. At the same time, as if the home team might be heading for the play-offs, excitement grows in

Cell Phones, Cancer, and Children: Possible Lethality and Other Threats from Technology

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on June 2, 2011 Will Young Cyberbullies Become Adult Wife Beaters? Anonymous Technology Can Hide Abuse and Violence A recent multicenter study shows that teen male school bullies will later become perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Dismissing such violent antisocial behavior as “boys will be boys” should be replaced with alarm and rephrasing to “boys who bully will be men who abuse women.” Although cyberbullying may differ in a variety of ways and deserves its own studies, such behavior nevertheless reveals profound deficits of personality that require urgent intervention and ongoing monitoring. See: School Bullying Perpetration and Other

ZillyDilly iPad Browser is custom-fitted to each child and empowers good parenting.

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on January 5, 2012 We have been working for over a year on this iPad app and finally launched it today. Innovative, unique, expert-curated, child/family-centered, developmentally sensitive browser customizable by parents. Timers actually allot a balanced age-, gender-, language-appropriate online experience giving the right proportions of family, social, values, educational, and fun experiences. I would love to hear comments about it and suggestions for making it even better! Article by Eitan ‘Dr. S®’ Schwarz, MD ©All rights

Dr. S to Pediatricians: Please Update Your Screen Time Guidelines ASAP to Include Tablets

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on December 25, 2012

Summary: Expert urges American Academy of Pediatrics to update screen time guidelines to include tablets and gives parents interim guidance for best use of new tablets for children.

Now that the holiday season is over, many children have in their hands new iPads and Minis and other tablets. As the use of tablets increases among children of all ages, questions and concerns are once again raised about the effects these devices have on children. But parents have had little guidance. The American Academy

THAT SPECIAL INFANT TOY, THE IPAD

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on July 12, 2013

Keywords: child, brilliant invention works, underlie later play, new unknown places, basic separation-individuation process

Kids can really teach us a lesson or two about inventiveness. Many kids the world over come up with amazing things, but that most special toy comes early. It can be a stick, it can be a blanket (or its tired threadbare remnant), a Teddy bear, thumb sucking, and, these days, it can also be an iPad.

Here is how

Robots and Language: What is “I”?

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on October 3, 2013

ROBOTS AND LANGUAGE -- WHAT IS HUMAN? We now build very special personal machines that speak with us uniquely, so how we interact with them tells a lot about us as individuals, cultures, and civilizations. The stuff of Pinocchio is here. Are we confusing ourselves about what it basically means to be human beings? Will it affect how humanely we treat each other? Will we soon need to assert our distinct humanity to stand apart from machines? Or will we become more like them? We communicate in language

How Talking and Listening Are Crucial for Psychiatry…

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on December13, 2014

These ideas are worth bearing in mind as parity for mental health coverage and major healthcare reform take us into uncharted waters.

Our brains give us language, and used expertly it can be an awesome neuroscience tool.

In fact, the profession that trained me -- modern psychiatry -- was first built on the careful and caring art of listening to speech and language in all their nuances and responding

Youth Psychotherapy With Digital Media

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on January 14, 2016

Poster presentation

American Psychiatric Association 162nd Annual Meeting

San Francisco, CA

May, 2009

DIGITAL MEDIA (INTERNET, VIDEOGAMES, SOCIAL NETWORKS, CELL PHONES, MUSIC PLAYERS…): BENEFITS IN THE PSYCHOTHERAPY AND FAMILY LIVES OF YOUTH

Eitan D. Schwarz, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., F.A.A.C.A.P.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES:

At the conclusion of this presentation, the participant should be able to utilize interactive media in therapy with children and adolescents and offer parents guidance about their beneficial use

“HER” — Robots as Women

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on February 3, 2014

The time is soon, place here, and regular people are tethered to technology "alone together", as Sherry Turkle quips. It is a world where the interactive virtual realities we ourselves create can bewitch us into epidemics of addictive perversions and obsessions.

The time is soon, place here, and regular people are tethered to technology...It is a world where the virtual

Principles for Parenting the Touchscreen Generation

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on September 21, 2015

Children need us to manage their experiences interacting with media. Parents need basic ideas to guide them.

More and more, recent press coverage is now exploring the new explosive trend in younger age groups consuming interactive media via touchscreens. "Is this trend a menace or boon?" is what people wonder, and the answer is usually a reasonable "Maybe a boon, but we need

Neuroscience and Psychiatry: The Roots of Humane Mental Health Care

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on December 15, 2013 I have a mind, therefore I am: psychiatry bridges neuroscience, language, medicine, consciousness and daily life. Where is it heading? Eitan D Schwarz MD DLAPA FAACAP Clinical Assistant Professor Northwestern University School of Medicine Skokie, IL Article by Eitan ‘Dr. S®’ Schwarz, MD ©All rights reserved

These ideas are worth bearing in mind as parity for mental health coverage and major healthcare reform take us into uncharted waters. Our brains give us language, and used expertly it can be an awesome neuroscience tool. In fact, the profession that trained me -- modern psychiatry -- was first

Kids & Families Coping with Disaster

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on October 31, 2012

Dr. Schwarz orients parents and educators dealing with children's response to disasters.

Helping Children (and Yourself) Cope with Natural and Other Disasters and Terror Attacks

Eitan D. Schwarz, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., F.A.A.C.A.P. FEINBERG SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CHICAGO, IL

Disasters raise hard questions for children (and grownups, too). Before, during and after the event, even kids far away ask "How can I be sure that

Skout, Social Media, and Other Online Risks by Children and About Becoming Entrepreneurs

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on June 22, 2012 Teen risk-taking is biologically rooted and precedes the entrepreneurship we need as a society. While online evils cannot be totally avoided, parents and teachers must start teaching good judgement in consuming media from the early years as they do traffic safety, hygiene, and later, good driving. As a veteran child psychiatrist, I know that the generic cause of tragic incidents such as Skout's and that well-dramatized in David Schwimmer's "Trust" ultimately cannot be completely prevented. From an evolutionary and neuroscience / psychology POV, teens are necessarily hard-wired and socially sanctioned to be "entrepreneurial", as

Tots: You Are Failing Us. We Need You To Manage Our Digital Media Lives Better

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on December 27, 2012 As younger and younger kids use powerful new technologies, parents and educators must learn to manage these interactions more systematically and effectively.

Three-year-old David recently had such a major tantrum on board a passenger plane when his father yanked the iPad in his lap to turn it off and click his seatbelt for take-off, that the aircraft returned to the gate to kick him off (http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/02/3-year-old-kicked-off-airplane-for-crying/?iid=ec-main-mostpop2?iid=ec-main-mostpop2). Not a surprising event these days. The child might say,"No fair. You get to use and enjoy the bestest toy

Google Glasses and Wearable Computers: Parents, Are You Ready for New Kids’ Technology Crazes?

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on April 5, 2012 Going gaga for Google goggles is yet another spectacle we can look forward to, centered in our youth pop culture. What is your strategy as a parent? As you see this coming, are you going to just react or be proactive? Dr. S' answer is to anchor all media consumption in a systematic way at home.

Google unveiled today (and Apple will soon follow) yet another forward-looking technology device -- voice-commanded eyeglasses with lenses that are actually transparent screens to display online digital images (and probably eventually also sound

Old iPads for Kids or Donate to Schools

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally Published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 15, 2012 The new iPad will replace older models. While the market for the iPad 2 will thrive, giving your old model could benefit lots of children. Here are ideas about how to use the hand- me- downs.

* Because little actual data are available for the safety and efficacy of interactive tablets, parents must not leave preschoolers unsupervised. In fact, the best use of iPads for these youngsters is to promote family interactivity, and the worst is alone-time with the device. * Expectations: "Setting expectations and attitudes is an essential first

Give or donate used iPads

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally Published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on March 14, 2012 Many users will replace their older models soon. Kids in schools all over can benefit greatly from donations. Here's how.

Used iPads sales are going through the roof as owners are ordering new devices. But if you are a parent or grandparent, consider handing your old iPad to your child or else consider donating it to a school or hospital pediatric department.

"If parents manage the handover correctly, children could benefit enormously from wonderful educational apps and the Internet itself. Children as young as preschoolers are

Apple’s iPad iBook 2: Textbook Publishing, Students, Parents, Teachers, and Collaboration

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on January 23, 2012

Apple's recent elephantine entry into the textbook world is another evolutionary step in technology's reach into our lives. Let's hope that like Apple's other innovations, it aligns technology to the well-being of children and families.

Apple's iBook 2 is the new elephant in the room for textbook publishing.

Many textbooks are already digitized at a basic level. There are general pluses to digital textbooks, including the saving of paper, interactive engageability,

Children, Parents, And Technology: Becoming A Successful Digital Family

Posted December 1, 2017

Originally Published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on November 6, 2009

By applying sound child-rearing and family support principles, parents can now create balanced media diets that lead youngsters to the values and orientation they will need to succeed in an increasingly media-rich world.

The following is an excerpt from my book, Media, Kids and Technology: An Instruction Manual for Young Families, a comprehensive and practical child- or family-centered instruction manual offering step-by-step instructions on how to turn digital media into powerful parenting tools that enrich family life.

The

How Much is Too Much? Screen Time and Kids

Posted November 29, 2017

From iPhones to TV and computers, today's children are continuously exposed to excessive screen time from media outlets. The iPhone’s ubiquity and intuitive interface make it an easy entertainment device (and pacifier) for children. Meanwhile TVs and computers are becoming more and more of a cornerstone of family life. Indeed the term "family room" now includes the assumption of a space dedicated to togetherness...and the TV. While some argue that mobile devices, television and computers can have educational merit, the primary concern should be whether children miss out on crucial language and cognitive development when these devices are over used. How much,

Alert to Colleagues: Hypo-Professionalism in Psychiatry

Posted April 9, 2014

Report from the field: This personal chronicle of one doctor’s recent journeys into some corners of his profession, currently rarely noticed by most colleagues and the public, illuminates issues now in the news with grave implications for all our futures. Some solutions to the basic conflict between the need to create billable records and the delivery of competent language-based psychiatric care are offered, including development of IT systems. In the popular mind, mental hospitals may be pictured as gracious rural spas where gentle platitudes and long rests restore people; or as snake pits filled with agitated, violent, cross-eyed, drooling

Terror in Boston: National and Individual Trauma and Healing

Posted April 20, 2013

Originally published by ThinkerMedia: BestThinking.com on April 20, 2013 IN THE WAKE OF THE BOSTON MARATHON TERRORIST ATTACK: NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL PSYCHIC TRAUMA AND HEALING Since a school shooting in 1988, the author has studied and written on the causes and effects of terror and violence. Here are some pieces relevant today, the end of another traumatic and healing week in America. For more please visit here. HEALING A NATION 9-11 NATIONAL TRAUMA (2002) [What America is going through now illustrates a phase in recovery from violent trauma. We offer below an approach to understanding this process

Family Coping with Disaster: Hurricane Sandy

Posted November 25, 2012

Helping Children (and Yourself) Cope and Understand the Storm and other Disasters

Eitan D. Schwarz, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., F.A.A.C.A.P. FEINBERG SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CHICAGO, IL Dr. S orients parents and educators dealing with children's response to disasters. Disasters raise hard questions for children (and grownups, too). Before, during and after the event, even kids far away ask "How can I be sure that this won't happen to me or to my parents? Why? What can I do?" When grownups live through or witness violent manmade or natural events, they often cannot come up with answers that put them entirely at

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

Posted September 5, 2012

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-

Free iOS App – ZillyDilly for iPad

Posted July 14, 2012

Customer Reviews

Zillydilly by Laura1260 This app is a practical, easy-to-use tool that gives parents the best websites for their kids in a safe and appropriate way. Websites are expertly evaluated and rated and categorized for parents to choose. Without worry or a lot of work, parents give their children interesting, enriching, appropriate and fun online experiences that are also protected and timed. Bravo, Dr. S! Childproofed Internet by ZillyDilly Fan ZillyDilly is a real help in saving time because I trust their expert site recommendations. Heard about it from preschool colleague who loves ZillyDilly. I teach 3rd and 4th grades and have

Hate Mail and the New Religious Wars in Tech

Posted June 21, 2012

Link to Original Article DAVE, good observation. As a child psychiatrist, I understand the passion to derive from an earlier period of a person's development where the distinction between the "I" and the "you" and the "it" does not yet exist. An example is what we call the "transitional object", the Teddy bear, blankie, sucking thumb, etc. and the toy, the doll, invested with personal psychological value, meaning, and a reality way beyond their actual reality. In grownups we see this commonly in how we feel about our cars and toys, sports teams, movie stars, and even theater and movies where

The Makings of Our Earliest Memories

Posted June 12, 2012

Link to Original Article Memory is a complex experience that this blog oversimplifies. Actually, the earliest memories, like archeological artifacts, are encoded into the structure of the mind/brain from PRE-birth. An adult born to an alcohol abuser carries that memory for a lifetime in the appearance of his face and structure of his brain, as is a neglected baby or one who has been

Tots Love iPads, so Please Teach Them to Use Them Right

Posted June 9, 2012

Link to Original Article

As younger and younger kids increasingly use powerful tools like the iPad, Dr. Eitan Schwarz, a leading child and adolescent psychiatrist and inventor of ZillyDilly for iPad, urges parents and educators to learn to manage these important interactions systematically and effectively

Three-year-old David recently had such a major tantrum on board a passenger plane when his father yanked the iPad to turn it off and click his seatbelt for take-off that the aircraft returned to the gate to kick him off (http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/02/3-year-old-kicked-off-airplane-for-crying/?iid=ec-main-mostpop2?iid=ec-main-mostpop2). According to leading Chicago child psychiatrist Eitan Schwarz, MD, a Northwestern Medical School faculty

Why The iPad Is The Next Great Educational Tool

Posted May 10, 2012

Link to Original Article I find that school districts working with Apple are installing or experimenting with iPads all over the country. On the whole I believe that this is good, and will get better, but as I discuss in my book and writings, there is much yet to be done to align technology better to the needs of kids and family life. FYI RESOURCE FOR THIS CONTINUING STORY — KIDS AND TECH FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS LINKED BIBLIOGRAPHY by ZillyDilly staff: https://mydigitalfamily.org/?page_id=2780 Please call if you or any of your reporters are following

Video Games and What We Can Learn from Anders Breivik About Raising Decent Children: A Veteran Doctor’s POV

Posted April 24, 2012

Let's leave the debating to scientists and lawyers and just do what's good for kids! Parents can and should manage children's media and technology consumption better (and we already do know how) – just as they do good hygiene and nutrition. There are those who claim or imply that violent video gaming increased the Norwegian mass killer's skill and/or motivation, while others argue that there is no connection whatever either in this specific tragedy, or in general, between violent gaming and violent behavior (see Eric Kain in Forbes). BTW, Breivik himself supposedly said that he deliberately used

Parents see spectacle: Eye good kids go gaga at Google goggles

Posted April 6, 2012

Google Glasses and Wearable Computers: Parents, Are You Ready for New Kids' Technology Crazes?

Parents must get ready for new technology challenges and actively manage media at home. Google unveiled today (and Apple will soon follow) yet another forward-looking technology device -- voice-commanded eyeglasses with lenses that are actually transparent screens to display online digital images. Google unveiled today (and Apple will soon follow) yet another forward-looking technology device -- voice-commanded eyeglasses with lenses that are actually transparent screens to display online digital images (and probably eventually also sound from the earpieces). These are a new category of "wearable computers". "These surely promise

How Tech Will Transform the Traditional Classroom

Posted March 26, 2012

Link to Original Article Thank you for a comprehensive treatment of an important subject. I will share it widely. As a child psychiatrist, I see learning as most powerful in a social context. With this caveat in mind, there is great power and time saving possible for educators to personalize instruction. With Apple’s new Mac tool Configurator, enabling duplication of content among iPad devices, an app like ZillyDilly for iPad, that provides childproofed curated online content customizable by the educator, can bring teacher-modifiable libraries of assets like website lesson plans to individual as well as groups of students. For example, teachers

Parents: Give Your Used iPad to Your Child, Start Preparing Now

Posted March 14, 2012

Use Used iPads to Benefit Children Click to Watch Used iPads sales are going through the roof as owners are ordering new devices. But if you are a parent or grandparent, consider handing your old iPad to your child or else consider donating it to a school or hospital pediatric department. "If parents manage the handover correctly, children could benefit enormously from wonderful educational apps and the Internet itself. Children as young as preschoolers are as eager for the glamorous hand-me-down from mom or dad as mom and dad are for their brand new iPad out of the box,"

Inventing an Internet Good for Kids: ZillyDilly’s Free Offer Extended to Welcome Apple’s Next iPad

Posted March 8, 2012

Link to Original Article

The world's first iPad browser for kids now free for a limited time in celebration of Apple's new iPad.

The ZillyDilly app is extending its limited-time free offer to new iPad owners. According to Dr. Eitan Schwarz, CEO of MyDigitalFamily, Ltd., “Inventing an Internet good for children is our calling at ZillyDilly, and we are eager for the new iPad to make children’s online experience more fun and healthy.” ABOUT ZILLYDILLY ZillyDilly is a new kind of tablet browser that blends entertainment and educational experiences while encouraging responsible web use for children of all ages. ZillyDiIly is maintained by

Getting Kids Ready for the New iPad and Beyond

Posted March 6, 2012

As the buzz grows with Apple's new iPad's launch this week, children will continue to covet the magic tablet more than any other toy. Parents must now keep learning how to better use these devices because these are not toys but actually brilliantly engineered adult tools. In fact, if we really think about it, the iPad is a disembodied robot presaging its more advanced progeny. And in the case of kids, these robots will doubtlessly be settling into our kids' cribs within less than a decade if we let our current carelessness continue.

It is easy

Attention Parents: Be Careful — Tablets Can Make Your Child into an Overweight Robot CHICAGO, IL Friday, February 17, 2012

Posted February 17, 2012

Link to Original Article A Nielsen survey just released shows that 70 percent (and increasing) of 12 year olds and younger kids in tablet-owning households play games, while 57 percent access "educational" apps. "Many of those called "educational" apps have hardly been shown to have any such value, since there is no credible standard for that claim," according to a leading Chicago child-psychiatrist Eitan Schwarz, M.D., faculty member at Northwestern University's Feinberg school of Medicine. "And tablet play is indoors and usually seated, adding to the epidemic of obesity," he adds. "Parents need to wake up. Their preschoolers

iPad Now a Tot and Enthralling to Tots

Posted January 29, 2012

Video Clip: Click to Watch

This week, the iPad turns two. How time flies! And what a difference it has made. The magical device has captured the imagination and marketplace instantly, engaging millions of people in thousands of new and helpful activities. And its utility just keeps growing, almost without limits.Eitan Schwarz, MD, an Illinois child psychiatrist, inventor of ZillyDilly for the iPad, and author of "Kids, Parents & Technology: A Guide for Young Families", has a familiar reaction, "The iPad is awesome. A wonderful demonstration of human talent, American leadership, and the power of

Expert to Parents: From Tots through Teens Give Kids Best Internet with iPad App

Posted January 17, 2012

Customize a healthy and safe internet for your child

Video Clip: Click to Watch MyDigitalFamily, Ltd. announced today the release of the ZillyDilly iPad browser for children. Based on parenting guidance by a leading American child and adolescent psychiatrist Eitan Schwarz, MD, FAACAP, DLFAPA ("Dr. S®"), ZillyDilly reinvents the internet for parents and children alike. Dr. S states, "Technology can be very positive, but parents must pay attention and make it so. Children's minds are miraculously precious, and the iPad and internet are too good to waste. Unless a digital device enhances family life and child development,

Best iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android Kids Apps and Tips for Parents: ZillyDilly innovative iPad browser system empowers parents. Can I have your opinion?

Posted January 16, 2012

We have been working for over a year on this iPad app and finally launched it today.

Innovative, unique, expert-curated, child/family-centered, developmentally sensitive browser customizable by parents. Timers actually allot a balanced age-, gender-, language-appropriate online experience giving the right proportions of family, social, values, educational, and fun experiences. I would love to hear comments about it and suggestions for making it even better! Thank you Dr.S

Texting While Walking

Posted January 9, 2012

It should be obvious by now that __ing while walking, driving, or doing anything else that diverts attention from where you place your body threatens immediate safety in ways similar to taking sedating drugs. What is so interesting is how urgently compelling taking such risks seem to be to otherwise normal people to satisfy the irrational impulse to communicate matters that could probably wait. Immediate gratification via digital technology at the risk of long term safety is yet another self-centered, basically infantile behavior that seems to undermine civility and judgement. As a child psychiatrist, I am at least as concerned about

WHY OFFER SCREEN TIME TO PRESCHOOLERS?

Posted January 6, 2012

Question from a colleague: Hello Eitan, It looks like you have been very busy working on something to assist parents and ultimately to benefit children. There are many aspects of this I like very much. I like that it controls the content and limits the amount of time spent on the internet! That is all wonderful in my opinion. I have a question about your reason for beginning it at such early ages. I understand that pre-schoolers are using these regularly and this app will help with what and how long they are exposed to this media use. But, I am wondering if you

Children Fail to Recognize Online Ads, Study Says

Posted April 26, 2011

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

ALONE TOGETHER is must reading for anyone who has a cell phone; and a must MUST if you also have a child.

Posted January 24, 2011

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must If You Have a Cell Phone; A Must Must If You Also Have a Child., January 10, 2011 This review is from: Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (Hardcover) ALONE TOGETHER is must reading for anyone who has a cell phone; and a must MUST if you also have a child. Dr. Sherry Turkle, a first rate thinker, veteran researcher, and keen observer, surprises us with how thoroughly and rapidly the evolving human-machine interface is changing our lives. Dr. Turkle's findings suggest that some major fundamental human brain

Book Review: Dr. Sherry Turkle’s ‘Alone Together’ (Basic Books)

Posted January 24, 2011

MIT's Dr. Sherry Turkle's ALONE TOGETHER (Basic Books, 2010) is must reading for anyone who has a cell phone; and a must MUST if you also have a child. This distinguished full professor at MIT has been skillfully watching fascinating developments unfold for almost two decades. As a captivating writer, Dr. Turkle again provides superbly stimulating food for thought about the social / psychological dimensions of where our chaotic technology consumption may be taking us. Cybercrime, sexting, gaming, cyberbullying, multitasking, endless power struggles with our teens, and other sensational happenings that are capturing our attention are but tips of an iceberg. Ironically,

Pioneer Thought Leader and Researcher: Robots Are Here to Stay and They Are Us

Posted January 19, 2011

Link to Original Article This review is from: Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (Hardcover)

I have not had the honor of meeting Dr. Turkle personally, but as I was researching my own book I found her to be one of the most important and sensible scholars in the human and technology space. Although she focuses on robots, the relevance of her work extends to all interactions with digital media. Currently, our use of the online computer and smartphone has similar

Increased Media Coverage Leaves Cyberparents Even More Helpless

Posted January 5, 2011

06.11.2010 Hooray! After over a decade of relative chaos and over-emphasis on safety, we are finally seeing how, as usual, while created to serve us, tools have profound effects on us. It is about time: In recent days, a spate of articles have peppered media about the effects on humans of technology. They comprise of two categories: Cognitive neuroscience and social-familial. There are alarmists and there are technophiles. Slow-to-come new research is reported, and experts are interviewed to put it in context. So far so good. But other than piquing curiosity, this mostly alarmist reportage is piecemeal and offers scant practical advise.

Videogames Can Be Good: Fight Childhood Diabetes and Obesity

Posted December 20, 2010

12.17.10 According to a study recently reported from Baylor University, children who played 6 hours of videogames that aimed at health-promoting dietary choices ended up 2 months later eating more fruit and vegetables. While many research findings often give bad news about the unrestricted use of technology by children, this report shows how this powerful medium can definitely help kids . "Parents need to become empowered and educated and have tools to become effective managers of kids' home media consumption, much as they manage food consumption. Parents must actively manage content. Restriction alone is just not enough,"

Dr. S Comment: TECHNOLOGY AND CHILDREN’S BRAIN

Posted December 10, 2010

A UCLA study (J Epidemiol Community Health doi:10.1136/jech.2010.115402 http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2010/11/11/jech.2010.115402.abstract?sid=b593eac2-369e-4769-b857-048bba43e302) shows increased behavioural problems in seven-year-olds who had both prenatal and postnatal exposure to cell phones used by at home. While it is difficult to say that cell phone use actually causes damage, the association is strong. These findings definitely need our attention and further study and should definitely get the attention of every parent. Parents must make sure that their use of electronics at home is not only safe, but actually brings benefits to their family. They need to be empowered, educated, and given the tools to manage

Dr S. Comment: Infant Media Exposure and Toddler Development

Posted December 9, 2010

Dr. S comment: New study shows how media are dumbing down infants. After over ten years of relatively chaos in children’s media exposure, reliable studies are now beginning to show how media can be damaging to human development starting very early in life. It is in the first years that the brain is actually wired, and many times irreversibly. What can parents do? Because media is here to stay, its thoughtful deployment is the practical and best answer, not just blocking or limiting it. In fact, it can be good for kids, just as parents can make food consumption healthy by giving nutrients instead of junk. Parents can

Dr S. Comment: Cell Phone Use Damaging Babies of Pregnant Moms?

Posted December 9, 2010

A respectable study from UCLA links maternal cell phone use while pregnant with later behavioral problems in childhood. These findings do not necessarily show causality, but need replication and explanation because they are so disturbing. The ecology of the developing brain is delicate and must be kept ‘green’, as I discuss in my book “Kids, Parents & Technology”. Parents need to be empowered, educated, and given the tools they need to manage electronics in their homes for the benefit of all family members. Best, Dr.

Expert: Please Keep Kids’ Brains Green

Posted December 9, 2010

As researchers learn more about the effects of technology on our children's brains, parents must become more careful in the use of new devices. After over ten years of relatively chaos in children's media exposure, reliable studies are now beginning to show how media can be damaging to human development starting very early in life. It is in the first years that the brain is actually wired, and many times irreversibly. What can parents do? Because media is here to stay, its thoughtful deployment is the practical and best answer, not just blocking or limiting it. In fact, it can be

Make Tech Holiday Gifts Good for Families

Posted November 22, 2010

11.21.10 With holiday shopping starting to accelerate, parents are tempted by the wonderful technology devices flooding the marketplace, but many fear their negative impact on kids. After over a decade of media's explosive and chaotic inroads into home life, parents are intimidated and feel helpless. And with all the negative press about technology and kids, parents are naturally worried, according to Dr. Schwarz, also known as Dr. S. Those 20% who restrict and filter content get only partial results. So why does Dr. Eitan Schwarz, the Illinois psychiatrist expert in technology's impact on family life, speak positively about how technology can benefit

Gov. Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver on Right Track

Posted October 29, 2010

Dad/husband Arnie and mom/wife Maria are doing the right thing by restricting media use in their home, according to an expert: "When I come home at night and we have dinner, there's no phone calls accepted. The kids aren't allowed to have cell phones at the table," Schwarzenegger said to Diane Sawyer on ABC Nightly News 10/27/10. In fact, across party lines, president Obama's kids don't get to watch TV during the week. According to Dr. Eitan Schwarz, a Chicago-area psychiatrist, these are examples of smart parents protecting their family's family life in a way all parents these days must do

Psychiatrist to Parents: Make New Apple Operating Systems Good for Your Family

Posted October 23, 2010

Link to Original Article 10.23.10 Video Clip: Click to Watch It looks like Apple is targeting youth in its mobile applications, as well as laptops. For example, David Chartier's recent review "iTunes 10 Goes Social," describes Ping, an elementary Facebook-type connection among kids purchasing music on iTunes. The same issue describes Apple's new iOS 4.1's Game Center as offering software developers better means to " implement multiplayer features into their games while letting players more easily challenge their friends to matches." Additionally, iOS 4.2 will be especially good for mobile TV apps. Eitan Schwarz, M.D., a veteran Chicago-area child psychiatrist, notes,

Computing Our Children’s Future

Posted October 1, 2010

Link to Original Article 12.14.09 Computer science education is a generally well-managed and sensible subcategory of a larger area - children interacting with digital technology in the home. This larger 'space' -- the intersection of technology, child development / neuroscience and family life, and media is relatively more chaotic. This important intersection has gotten relatively little systematic attention and organization that has made practical sense to parents, who often start children off with digital devices early in life without an sensible guidance... My book addresses this

What’s Your Hobby?

Posted October 1, 2010

Link to Original Article 12.21.09 This is great article. As and expert on kids and families in my office and the author of KIDS, PARENTS & TECHNOLOGY: A GUIDE FOR YOUNG FAMILIES, I emphasize the importance of using media -- and there is so much out there -- to enrich ourselves and our families. Amongst the torrent of digital information and social noise flooding us and our children, it is at home that we can put things in proper perspective by having both solitary and joint family

With “Avatar,” Technology Has Never Looked So Human in Film (VIDEO)

Posted October 1, 2010

Link to Original Article 12.22.09 AVATAR is an astounding result of so many human and technological forces coming together. As talented folks present us with wonderful gifts based on technological marvels - and I hope they do more and more -- we must do our part to develop new ways of thinking about how to bring these into our lives positively. As a long-term child/family therapist and technophile, I have sought ways that family life and parenting can benefit from these innovations and offer my ideas in KIDS, PARENTS & TECHNOLOGY: A GUIDE FOR YOUNG FAMILIES. One way is to enjoy

A Free Online First: Expert Teaches Parents and Kids Healthy Media Use

Posted September 25, 2010

For the first time online, an expert is addressing both parents and their young kids directly about developing good media habits. In free side by side online videos, Dr. Eitan Schwarz, a veteran Chicago area child and family psychiatrist, urges parents to use home media in positive and healthy ways and separately addresses their young kids to cooperate. The videos attempt to change viewers' mindset to accept Dr. Schwarz's positive approach to the use of media in the home.

"Home technology can be enormously helpful, but current studies show it to be mostly destructive," according to Dr. Schwarz, also known as

ONLINE

Posted September 16, 2010

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Psychiatrist Gives Parents Tools to Manage Kids’ Media

Posted September 1, 2010

Veteran Chicago-area child-psychiatrist and Northwestern University faculty member Dr. Eitan Schwarz is launching his national campaign to assist parents manage their kids' media lives in comprehensive, positive and healthy ways. He is beginning with appearances in suburban Chicago libraries. His scheduled appearances are online at https://mydigitalfamily.org Dr. Schwarz will discuss his book, "Kids, Parents & Technology: A Guide for Young Families." Known to his patients as Dr. S, the Skokie physician offers fresh child- and family-oriented thinking. Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld, a Harvard Medical School lecturer praises the book: "Finally someone- Dr. Schwarz - has given parents an easy-to read, but very helpful

Working Mother – Is Tech Taking Over Your Teen?

Posted July 29, 2010

What a great article! Making good decisions about media consumption is an ongoing parenting and personal challenge for moms. Working moms, with limited time and random cell phone and other tech intrusions into their family time, often have special challenges. My work and research has shown me that this is an important family issue that parents are often torn about. Many come up with good compromises, but stay feeling uncertain and have guilt feelings. Except for limit setting, there just is not enough good guidance (except for scare advice) out there, even after over a decade of media dominance in

The Online Mom Is technology separating us from our kids…?

Posted July 29, 2010

A nagging sense of guilt and inadequacy haunts many moms distracted by today's technology, just as their kids are also becoming less connected to families, as studies show. Good parenting today requires careful planning - like meal preparation - setting access limits of electronic-free times and places, and extensive meaningful positive planned interactions with media

The New York Times: Business Section p. 7 Junk Food, Junk Media

Posted July 18, 2010

Re “Educational Hope vs. Teenage Reality” (Digital Domain, July 11), which described how studies showed a decline in academic performance after students in low-income households received a computer in the home: Without active parental planning and supervision, children consume junk media as they do junk food. Left to themselves, children properly regard almost everything as toys and do not consider long-term benefits or hazards. Parents should regard digital media as a way to enhance children’s development and family life. Learning is essentially a developmental social that needs the nurturing involvement of adults. EITAN D. SCHWARZ, M.D. Skokie,Ill., July 11 The writer is a child

RE: Kids, Parents & Technology: A Guide for Young Families Aims To Help Parents With Their Digital Families

Posted July 7, 2010

7.7.10 After a decade of significant technological change with an emphasis on online safety, it’s obvious digital tools profoundly affect families in their daily lives. Dr. Eitan Schwarz, a veteran Chicago child-psychiatrist uses media as play therapy in his practice and addresses this issue in his book, KIDS, PARENTS & TECHNOLOGY: A GUIDE FOR YOUNG FAMILIES as well as online at https://mydigitalfamily.org. The steady flow of technology is impacting family relationships, causing some to become media-saturated. Oftentimes parents don’t know how to manage the available technology. Dr. S’ book discusses how parents can apply hand-held gadget use, Web site interaction, video game play and

RE: HOW MANY ANGELS CAN TEXT ON A PINHEAD?

Posted June 28, 2010

6.28.10 Brilliant technological innovators bless us almost daily with new opportunities, unimaginable even months ago, that challenge our best thinkers (among them David Pinsky, Nicholas Carr, Steven Johnson, Sherry Turkle and others) to predict the how these new tools will impact our culture and civilization. Burgeoning neuroscience, seemingly promising to finally explain how our brains function as the organs of our minds, has created a fashionable concern with how we input and process information. But frankly, I cannot help chuckling as I imagine a serious clan of self-aware mavens among our pre-historic ancestors, each holding a newly-wrought iron tool for the

SanFrancisco Magazine: RE: Tech gets a time-out: Charges of hypocrisy be damned: Some Silicon Valley tech wizards are quietly raising their kids outside the lurid digital landscape that their own industry calls childhood.

Posted June 25, 2010

By Dan Fost 6.25.10 Comments for Tech gets a time-out * Dr. S Writer Dan Fost has his finger right on the pulses of youngsters and parents who are organizing their families’ media lives just right. He reminds me of director Spielberg’s claim that he would not let his own youngsters attend "Jurassic Park", even as millions of American youngsters were flocking to his greatest hit. The tech industry mavens cited by Fost get the point that parenting is one thing and merchandising is another. Even as our kids are growingly portrayed as media junkies and their parents as increasingly ineffective in the recent Kaiser

RE: Yes, People Still Read but Now It’s Social

Posted June 18, 2010

6.18.10 Technology need not be our enemy as long as we keep our focus on these goals. Our job now is to fit technology into our parenting and not vice versa. So let’s please shift the debate and focus on what we want for ourselves and our families and to ways to exploit our brilliant new tools to accomplish this precious task. Let’s stop debating how many angels can text on a pinhead, and let’s use technologies as opportunities to promote the development of social brains (after all, that is why it evolved in the first place) from infancy through adulthood. The

More Media Coverage Leaves Digital Parents Frustrated

Posted June 11, 2010

Increased Media Attention Leaves Cyber parents Helpless Hooray! After over a decade of relative chaos and over-emphasis on safety, we are finally seeing how, as usual, while created to serve us, tools have profound effects on us. It is about time: In recent days, a flurry of articles have peppered media about the effects on humans of technology. These stories comprise of two categories: Cognitive neuroscience and social-familial. There are alarmists, and there are technophiles. Slow-to-come new research is reported, and experts are interviewed to give context. So far so good. But this is not enough. Other than piquing curiosity, the mostly alarmist reportage is

PTA and Facebook Talking: But Kids and Families Need More!

Posted June 10, 2010

That the PTA and Facebook are collaborating for kids' Internet safety is welcome news! It is about time! After over a decade of chaos, industry and major child advocacy organizations must look at the broader picture together: How our kids are consuming media and how can their development and family lives benefit (see www.mydigitalfamily.org)? Both the Kaiser and Pew Foundation and other reports recently showed just how out of control the consumption of junk media is becoming and how family life is actually declining. Rather than piecemeal solutions or merely restricting access, parents must immediately commit themselves and thoughtfully organize the

Junk Food, Junk Media

Posted June 10, 2010

6.10.10 This type of "when" question appears regularly in media. However, according to Dr. S, a veteran Chicago child psychiatrist ,"Parents are still feeling frustrated and helpless about managing kids' junk media consumption because such piecemeal soundbytes miss the larger and important question of 'how do we think comprehensively about technology and fit it into home life?' It is only within this context that any approach can make sense. We must ask, 'How are our kids consuming media and how can their development and family lives benefit from technology?'" Dr. S states that "a digital device does not belong in your home unless

LinkedIn: Children’s Media

Posted June 9, 2010

6.6.10 Shall we begin teaching young children about the concept of world peace? At what age is it appropriate? At what time does it become necessary? How much information shall be

Kids, Parents, and Technology: An Unexplored Space

Posted June 6, 2010

6.6.10 Comment by Marla Coffey 1 day ago Dr. S, Thanks so much for opening up this topic! I've often wondered what a psychiatrist or psychologist would say about how the Internet is impacting kids developmentally, socially, etc. Parents have the responsibility of managing and monitoring it, but do you think it's still causing fundamental changes in the way kids learn, think, interact, etc.? Beyond changes in the way learning and communication are delivered--is it changing the way kids function internally? I've read that adults are experiencing changes in short and long term memory because of our dependence on devices--who needs to memorize directions when

TIPS FOR EASING FAMILY SUMMER VACATION TECH STRESS

Posted June 2, 2010

Summers at home or on the road have always presented families with special challenges. Today's technology seems to offer parents great solutions at home or during long car or airplane trips: bored and annoying children turn magically into 'seen but not heard' angels as they settle down and remain occupied for long periods, quietly consuming media. But many parents are not entirely comfortable and many even feel a bit guilty: 'After all, this IS summer and a FAMILY vacation meant to bring us together and closer.' Parents are lost: 'How much media is OK? At what ages? Allow my eleven-year old

In the Good Ol’ Cybertime: An Urgent Alert to Parents

Posted May 31, 2010

"Children's uses of technology at home can too easily rob families of unique bonding opportunities and expose kids to immediate and future dangers. Parents are already worrying about unorganized unsupervised use, but it seems so pervasive in our culture that most don't know what to do and where to start. Just eliminating all technology does not seem right to many," according to Dr. S, a distinguished Chicago child psychiatrist and author of the newly-released guide for parents. Parents are right to worry. While they can become more stressed when their schedules do not lighten up to accommodate the months and months

Book Expo America Opens this Week as Industry Scrambles to Respond to Teen-Initiated Tech Trends

Posted May 24, 2010

Originally published in The New York Times 5.24.10 Promising “content and buzz”, Book Expo America opens this week in New York City. Most of the buzz in the famed publishing trade show will surely come from the industry’s scramble to keep up with the digital revolution. And many of the explosive trends that are making up these revolutionary personal technology developments have surely originated and evolved in teen culture. “It is the nature of youth culture to be the first to incubate new trends and bring them into the mainstream, sometimes to the benefit of all. Trends like the many personal uses of the

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