Is Your School Anxious About The Anxious Generation?

Raising children should be an act of love and care, not fear!

In these uncertain times, folks are preying upon the legitimate insecurities of parents for great personal profit and at the expense of our children. The latest bestselling hysteria is centered on kids and “screens.” While there are legitimate concerns about social media, addictive behavior, isolation, and dopey time wasting associated with cellphone use, there are costs associated with jumping on the ban and blame bandwagon.

Every generation has been plagued by moral panics. Remember previous generations of parents being whipped up into a frenzy over the dangers of comic books, rock ‘n roll, cartoons, video games, MTV, stranger abduction, and other bogeymen? Ironically, the frequency, volume, and reach of today's manufactured crises has increased due to social media.

While well-intentioned, there are unintended consequences of cellphone bans and overreacting to “screen time,” including:

• lost educational potential
• creating needless antagonism between children and adults
• endangering child safety and their ability to navigate the world
• confusing, contradictory, and unenforceable prohibitions
• surrendering parental discretion to the state

We can do better!

Let’s choose conversation over cynicism. In his seminar, “Twenty Reasons to Resist Cellphone Bans,” Gary Stager, Ph.D. offers parents, educators, and communities an opportunity to explore legitimate concerns about child development and balance the risks against the opportunities available for supercharging learning, amplifying human potential, and strengthening the bonds of community. This common sense presentation and conversation will share insights developed over decades, lessons learned from the past two rounds of cellphone bans, practical ways to improve your child’s education tomorrow – with or without cellphones, and explore ways in which you and your children can learn together, supercharged by technology.

It’s OK. Listen to the merchants of fear and doom if you must, but also consider the unintended consequences of over-reacting.

Below, you will find four ways to constructively engage caregivers, educators, & families.

Calm advice from an educator and proud grandpa

Dr. Stager is a globally recognized educator, author, parent, and grandparent with more than four decades of experience promoting the use of computers as intellectual laboratories and vehicles for self-expression. He is not a thoughtless utopian and recognizes the genuine concerns surrounding screen time, social media, and cellphones. He recognizes that much of what children do with their devices compares badly with clay and paint, but that does not need to be the case.

He has resisted the urge to back his car up over his granddaughter’s iPad because he knows that is irresponsible to build pens between children and their world. We must offer safe, constructive, and creative ways for children to engage with modernity while doing the hard work of centering play, kindness, civility, empathy, and citizenship in their lives.

Not all screens are created equally

There is a profound difference between how an exhausted parent might pacify a toddler with an iPad at a pancake house and the ways in which Dr. Stager advocates for using computers as intellectual laboratories and vehicles for self-expression. There are exciting ways in which kids may use wondrous software environments and low-cost robotics kits to learn alone, collaboratively, or with parents. Suggestions for selecting the most constructive materials and embarking on learning adventures will be shared during the seminar.

Four ways to engage caregivers & families

1. Twenty Reasons to Resist Cellphone Bans – seminar

Join Gary Stager, Ph.D. in a witty, informative, and comforting discussion of the issues surrounding children, cellphones, and screen-time. This seminar is intended to lower the temperature and encourage adults to take a deep breath and recognize common-sense ways to create healthy ways for children to thrive in an increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated world. This world-renowned educator will discuss the unintended consequences of irrational policies while offering constructive ways to embrace modernity and learn with children – on-screen and off.

This seminar is perfect for parent evenings, libraries, or teacher professional development. In-person and virtual seminars are possible.

2. Family Art, Math, & Computing – workshop

Hey, there’s art in my math! Wait, there’s math in my art! Children and caregivers are invited to join Dr. Gary Stager in a fun hands-on workshop in which creativity, art, computational thinking, and computer programming come alive. Bring a laptop if possible and your imagination. You and your child will learn cool ways to create with the computer once you get home.

2 – 6 hour hands-on workshop for adults and children (K-12). Hands-on ? In-person.

3. Tinkering, Engineering, Computing with the BBC micro:bit – workshop

The BBC micro:bit is a small, but mighty, inexpensive brain board which may be programmed to play games, conduct science experiments, control robots, and bring crafts to life. In this hands-on workshop, Dr. Gary Stager will inspire children and adults to collaborate on exciting inventions together. Best of all, families go home with everything they need to keep learning and inventing.

2 – 6 hour hands-on workshop for adults and children (grades 3-12). $25-$30 materials fee per child Hands-on ? In-person.

4. Be the Boss of AI – workshop

Generative artificial intelligence and AI chatbots have captured the public’s imagination in remarkable ways. This family workshop turns the tables on our AI overlords and puts kids in-charge. Learn how chatbots may be used in playful ways to create, learn, write better, solve problems, and develop critical thinking skills. Mind-blowing project ideas and tools will be shared to enhance learning long after this unique workshop.

2 – 6 hour hands-on workshop for adults and children (grades 5-12). Hands-on ? In-person.

Email gary [at] stager.org to book a fantastic event!

Learn more about Gary Stager, Ph.D. here.