Award-winning psychologist, author, and Nurture’s Digital Parenting Expert. I help families build healthy relationships with technology through science-backed guidance. My work focuses on screen time, gaming, and raising kids in a connected world.
To find success and happiness, kids don’t just need to learn how to read, write, and add. They need to learn how to ask thoughtful questions, manage big emotions, work through frustration, and care for those around them (and themselves). These life skills are not often taught in school...
Alongside their ABCs and 123s, kids today are learning their DMPs: Digital, Media, and Platform Literacies. Of these three, you’re probably most familiar with digital literacy and least so with platform literacy. All are equally important and ultimately interconnected, so we’ll explain and integrate them all: * Digital literacy:...
Games don’t have to look like school to teach valuable lessons. Math, science, and reading might be what first come to mind when we think of educational video games for kids. But digital play can also teach other critical elements, like confidence, curiosity, and other life skills. If your...
Creativity isn’t something kids are simply born with. Some children might have a natural inclination toward imaginative play or artistic expression, but all children can learn to think creatively. It’s a skill, a special way of thinking, that develops through encouragement, repetition, and consistent freedom to explore. And...
What does it mean to be a good human online? That’s the question at the heart of the concept of digital citizenship. It’s really not that different from being one off-screen, or a good citizen in general. OK, easy enough — but what about our kids, who are growing...
Teaching communication skills to our kids today means thinking twofold: traditional and digital. Raised among screens, apps, and the online world — including its communities and multitude of communication methods — means communication skills now firmly include: * Asynchronous communication * Text, email, and other digital notes * Communication with fewer nonverbal cues The way...
Digital literacy is our ability to navigate digital spaces in an effective and informed way. For kids, that’s mainly about knowing what content is for them and what’s not, and where to go for help if something weird happens. It includes recognizing what’s appropriate, what’s not,...
Over the past decade, researchers have discovered that playing video games can actually boost IQ. Consider the large 2022 study that followed nearly 10,000 U.S. children aged 9–10 and measured their cognitive abilities two years later. After controlling for genetics and socioeconomic factors, researchers found that kids...
Friendship doesn’t look the same as it did a generation ago. For today’s kids, social connection flows fluidly between offline and online spaces. A friend might be someone they sit next to at school. A friend might be someone they build with in Minecraft. Or that friend might...