MPF 285: Tech Traps for Boys and Girls

Messy Family Podcast : Catholic Conversations on Marriage and Family

Summary

In this next part of our series on tech, we talk about the specific challenges that tech use brings to boys and girls. Just as men and women have different gifts, they also deal with different temptations in their tech use. Because of this, parents must be proactive in teaching boundaries to their children so they can use tech with freedom when they leave your house and enter the world of adulthood. During this conversation, we give you some principles that you will need to discuss with your spouse to make a tech policy of your own. Every family must have some boundaries, because if you don’t define them, then the reality is that Big Tech will be calling the shots in your house. Their goal is to control your kids and they have the means to do it.

Key Takeaways

• Because of the genius of men to create and subdue the world they are more tempted to be addicted to video games. Because of women’s gift of relationships they are more tempted to be absorbed in social media.

• Parents must know the symptoms of addiction and immediately respond if they believe their child has an addiction. Their child’s future success in life depends on it.

• The best filter is a well-formed child who knows how to respond to toxic online content.

• You must teach and model healthy tech use for your kids - nothing is private, have a healthy skepticism of any online content, and learn good manners.

Couple Discussion Questions

• Are we aware of the symptoms of tech addiction? Are any of our children in danger of this addiction? If so, what are we going to do about it?

• Do we have a written tech policy? Plan a time to discuss with your spouse and create one.

• What is our plan for social media use for our children?

Resources

• The Messy Family Guide to Technology - https://messyfamilyproject.org/guide/screens-your-child/