Advance Praise for Talking Back to Facebook

Steyer has penned a vital wake-up call for parents and government. He is a champion of both kids and the digital revolution. But hes neither giddy nor an apologist. He recognizes that companies like Facebook and Google and video game makers sway our kids, how they think and read and study and behave. If youre a parent and want some shrewd tips on parenting in this digital age and how to protect your children, read this book.
Ken Auletta, author of Googled: The End of the World as We Know It

In this courageous book, Jim Steyer pulls no punches. Whether or not you agree with his critique of Facebook and its Silicon Valley siblings, you must grapple with the deep issues that he raises.
Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Jim Steyer is a relentless advocate for kids. Focusing on how the media intersects with their lives, Jim boldly takes on the issues, exploring the good, the bad, and the ugly alikealways the first to begin the conversation. I urge every parent to read this book so that we can be prepared to navigate how new forms of media and communication are transforming childrens lives.
Cyma Zarghami, president, Nickelodeon Group

Smart, savvy, sophisticated, down-to-earth. A book that parents and children can read together. A conversation starter for families.
Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together

contents

Foreword by chelsea clinton introduction Part i The RAP on Digital Media: Relationships, Attention/Addiction, and Privacy Chapter One Relationships: connection, intimacy, and Self-image Chapter Two Attention and Addiction issues: Your childs Brain on computers Chapter Three The loss of Privacy: Why Your child is at Risk

xi 1

21

36

46

ix

Contents

Chapter Four The end of innocence Chapter Five embracing the Positives of Digital Media Chapter Six kids Are More Than Data Points Part ii Parenting 2.0: Top common Sense Tips Birth to Age Two Ages Three to Four Ages Five to Six Ages Seven to eight Ages nine to Ten Ages eleven to Twelve Ages Thirteen to Fifteen Conclusion Talking Back and Taking Back control Acknowledgments notes index Discussion Questions for Parents and Teachers

66

77

87

99 107 117 130 142 155 167

180 185 189 199 207

Foreword by chelsea clinton

hen I was littlewell, until I went to collegemy parents had clear guidelines about media consumption, like their rules against sugary cereal and allowing pizza only on weekends. When I was in elementary school, my parents let me watch thirty minutes of television a day, with unlimited cartoon viewing on Saturday mornings. When I was a teenager, I secured precious permission to watch ER, even though each episode was twice as long as my daily allotment. We saw lots of movies as a family, listened to the radio in the car to and from school, soccer practice, and ballet, and, after my parents (or maybe it was Santa) gave me a Commodore computer for Christmas in 1987, I played the Carmen San Diego and Oregon Trail games, generally with my dad beside me, for hundreds of hours. In our house, media had its place. With the exception of an Arkansas football game, we did not watch television or listen to the radio during meals, and media consumption, like meals, was a shared family experience. As we had dinner together, we frequently talked about the media in and surrounding our lives. My parents always asked me what I thought about the television shows, movies, music, and computer games
xi

Foreword by Chelsea Clinton

I was consuming with them and, less commonly, by myself or with friends. The earliest conversation like this that I remember was about Snow White Live, when I was about five years old. The most painful one I remember was when I confessed I had watched Dirty Dancing at a friends houseI was eight or nine and PG-13 movies were explicitly off-limits. My parents were disappointed, and knowing that was far worse than any punishment they could mete outthough I think I was grounded for a weekend, too. Growing up, I knew that it was important to talk to my parents about what I was hearing, seeing, and readingand how it made me feeland about what I was not watching, not listening to, and not participating in, even if my friends sometimes were. During meals, my parents and I also talked about the media surrounding our liveswhat was written in the local papers and what local TV stations were saying about our family. Sometimes my parents would start the conversations; sometimes I would, prompted by something I had read in the morning paper or something someone had said to me at school. What was true in a given story? What wasnt true? Why did the truth sometimes not seem to matter? Those conversations helped me develop a broad and healthy skepticism about the media, as well as a respect for its abilityin a news story, song, computer game, or movieto empower or disempower people. By the time I was in junior high school, I realized that it was important to understand a given media reports intent, message, and interests, whether political, profit, or something else altogether. Our talks over breakfast and dinner also strengthened my relationship with my parents. If we could talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly in the mediawhether it related to our family or to a fictional television or movie narrative we could talk about anything in our own lives. In other words, talking about the media helped foster an honest and open relationship between my parents and me. That honesty in our conversations continues to this day. One thing my parents and I didnt talk about when I was little, however, was how the media could impact or influence privacy for
xii

Foreword by Chelsea Clinton

everyone, including kids. Given the persistent media interest in our lives in Little Rock, in Washington, and today, we certainly talked about privacy. However, we did not talk about the ways in which social media and technology would enable kids and adults to give up their privacy before they fully understand what privacy is, why its important, and the implications of leading a life in which privacy, online or off, doesnt exist. Facebook and Twitter had not yet been imagined, and there was no such thing as an online identity. Today, many kids are spending more time consuming media than interacting with their parents or teachers, and the challenges are vastfrom the many young people who regret by high school what theyve already posted about themselves to cyberbullying, to the hypersexualization of female characters in video games to the ratings creep in the movies and music kids consume. (Movies today contain significantly more sex and violence, on average, than movies with the same rating ten or twenty years ago.) In Talking Back to Facebook, Jim Steyer explains how his family navigates these challengesand opportunitiesplainly and respectfully. He also explains how every family can mediate traditional and digital media in their kids lives so it doesnt control them, and how they can help their kids grow into responsible, respectful digital citizens. Thankfully, the strategies Jim articulates are not esoterictheyre specific and practical, even if not always easy, for kids and their parents. I first met Jim when I took one of his classes as a college sophomore. I then took another of his classes, became his teaching assistant, and was his research assistant for his first book, The Other Parent. Later, I proudly joined the board of Common Sense Media, the organization Jim started to better educate and equip parents to make the right media choices for their kids mental, physical, and developmental health. There are many things I respect and admire about Jim, none more than his commitment to his family and to helping families everywhere help their kids grow up in a way that is safe, secure, and fun. Hisand Common Sense Mediasultimate aim is to ensure that media plays an empowering, supportive role in kids learning and development,
xiii

Foreword by Chelsea Clinton

but isnt the main character in any kids story. Talking Back to Facebook is Jims most recent effort to do just thatto help parents and future parents (including, hopefully, Marc and me) in the twenty-first century best help kids to write their own stories, star in their own movies, discover their own dreams, and grow up to be the people they aspire to be, regardless of the most popular app, Facebook page, game, movie, or song in a given moment.

xiv

chapter Two Attention and Addiction issues: Your childs Brain on computers
We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.
Marshall McLuhan, media commentator

anging out with perpetually wired teenagers these days can be a pretty jarring experience for any adult. The average American teen today seems to be doing a hundred things at oncewatching videos on YouTube, Facebooking, and texting with their friendstheir brains bouncing from one activity to another, often in a matter of seconds. Maybe Ive been teaching at Stanford for too long, but you cant tell me that this constant digital distraction doesnt have an impact on some of my students ability to focus on a particular subject, to get their homework done well, and to write clear and coherent papers. I now get term papers that seem more disjointed than a few years ago and see students using Internet slang or text-message misspellings in their work. You dont need to be a neuroscientist to observe these changes, in both kids and adults. Indeed, scientists and researchers confirm that the Internet may actually be changing how our brains work. Some research36

Attention and Addiction Issues: Your Childs Brain on Computers

ers take images of the brain over time. Others make inferences about what is happening in the brain based on what people think or how they behave. In that light, I use the terms brain and mind interchangeably in this chapter. Online behavior has neurological consequences, especially in children and teens whose brains are still developing. In fact, leading scientific researchers believe that brain development changes linked to media are occurring in our youngest children. According to a study led by Dimitri Christakis of the University of Washingtons School of Medicine, every hour of television that kids watched each day from age one through three increased their risk of attention problems at age seven by nearly 10 percent.1 In his recent book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, author Nicholas Carr asked the basic question Is Google making us stupid?2 Analyzing everything from neuroscience to increasing changes in our ability to concentrate, write, and reflect, Carr concluded that our new world of digital immersion has changed everything from logical thought processes and work habits to our capacity for linear thinking. As he puts it, Calm, focused, undistracted, the linear mind is being pushed aside by a new kind of mind that wants and needs to take in and dole out information in short, disjointed, often overlapping burststhe faster, the better.3 Previously, many doctors and scientists assumed that brain circuitry was malleable only in childhood and that it became fixed and hardwired once people reached adulthood. Recent neurological studies, however, reveal that adult brains have much more plasticity and are far more changeable than previously recognized. Researchers have observed these changes in how taxi drivers experience spatial representation and the growth of the brains of violinists. In short, our brains are a work in progress, and the digital revolution has had an enormous impact, most especially on the brain structure and chemistry of young kids and teens.4 New York Times reporter Matt Richtel told me recently that digital devices are tapping into the deepest, most primitive neurological impulses that we have. The constant bombardment of stimuli from text messages and Facebook pings are actively stimulating the impulse-driven
37

Talking Back To FaceBook

section of young peoples lower brains. At the same time, the prefrontal cortexthe center of judgment, rational planning, and orderly thinking doesnt mature until approximately age twenty-three. Its the last part of the brain to fully develop. Researchers who explore this field, Richtel says, worry that young peoples brains, in particular, are in a relatively continuous state of civil war between the weak, advanced frontal lobe functions (order, logic, and planning) and the more primitive, impulse-driven instincts of the lower brain area. Not surprisingly, fifteen-year-olds, who receive an average of nearly thirty-five hundred text messages per month, may be developing the impulse, fast-twitch portions of their brains far more than the logic- and planning-focused frontal portions.5 Leading researchers like Paul Atchley, a professor at the University of Kansas who studies teenagers compulsive use of mobile phones, believe that young peoples heavy use of interruption technologies can impede deep thinking and cause them increased social and emotional anxiety.6 Moreover, TV and newspaper media content is being increasingly chopped up to fit the shorter attention spans of young consumers who are becoming habituated to the fast, distracting pace of digital media. Experts like Dimitri Christakis, while careful to emphasize that ADHD has an important genetic component as well, believe that there needs to be far more study of the impact of media and technology on attention problems and brain development overall.7

The Myth of Multitasking In 2009, Stanford communications professor Cliff Nass and his colleagues conducted a pioneering research study that demonstrated that heavy multitaskers were actually more prone to distractions and irrelevant information and performed worse than others on tests designed to measure their ability to focus clearly and switch successfully between tasks.8 The image of the modern wired techie, successfully juggling information and simultaneously processing multiple streams of data, is essentially a total myth. Young people have always been drawn to distractions and found
38

Attention and Addiction Issues: Your Childs Brain on Computers

ways to waste time. My own teenage years were no exception, and I found many imaginative ways to avoid schoolwork and other responsibilities. But todays ever-increasing stimuli from the Internet and cell phones present unique challenges to kids ability to learn and concentrate in school. And even though some teachers and parents are concerned about the digital onslaught, most schools around the country are becoming increasingly technology focused and encourage the use of computers and other digital devices at home. Of course, we need to take advantage of their educational and human development potential, and we actively support the appropriate use of technology to further twenty-first-century learning. That said, we also see a need for healthy balance and for schools to choose the appropriate times and places for technology use. The impact of media multitasking on students homework and related academic performance represents an important issue for educators to consider. Since students increasingly rely on computers and other digital devices as part of their course of study, schools must reinforce clear rules about the proper, healthy use of digital media in both homework and research. Clearly, watching a five-minute video on YouTube should never substitute for reading the full text of a Shakespeare play. In short, schools at all levels need to explicitly recognize the increasing digital distractions that many young people face and help prevent students from getting lost between the competing demands of virtual reality and their important academic responsibilities.

Diminishing Downtime Growing scientific research also underscores the critical importance of media time-outs in our lives, particularly for kids and teens who have developing brains. Mental downtime is another casualty of our connected lives. All of us, kids and adults alike, have a fundamental need for regular breaks from the Ping Ponglike distractions of digital stimuli. Many of us know the simple pleasures of going to a vacation spot where cell phones and e-mails dont work and all laptops and iPads are
39

Talking Back To FaceBook

left behind. It can be so calming and peaceful when we fully unplug from our devices. Our brains relax. We sleep better. We escape the constant pinging of our cell phones and Internet notifications. Our ideas and imaginations begin to flow as we experience true, uninterrupted downtime from our digital lives. For children and teens, that kind of downtime is really essential. Constant digital stimulation not only affects young peoples ability to focus and pay attention, but it can also affect their memory development. Im not a mind and brain scientist, and the research on digital media and memory is in its early stages, but here is a thumbnail sketch, based on what Ive learned from leading experts in the field. Our basic depth of intelligence depends on our ability to transfer information from our working memory to our long-term memory, then to use that information conceptually. Theres a bit of a bottleneck in the system, because working memory has a much smaller capacity than long-term memory, and the transfer takes time. When the information load in our working memory is too large and exceeds our brains capacity to store and process it, that information is lost. This memory loss occurs when our brains are overly distracted and overtaxed. The Internet, smartphones, and other digital devices can be the source of exactly this type of information overload. And unfortunately, human memory doesnt function like a hard drive that absorbs and stores data in fixed locations and retrieves it as needed. Too much hypertext and multimedia content, supposedly a boon to learning, is often related to limited attention span, lower comprehension, and less focus. It can also be associated with information/cognitive overload, and diminished long-term memory. Its true that careful combinations of audio and visual content can, if structured appropriately, enhance learning skills, but the Internet and most Web content wasnt built with that goal in mind. Like most digital media, theyre designed for interruption. And the interruptive process scatters thoughts, taxes mental resources, and can ultimately impair long-term memory. It may also undermine deep creative thinking, inductive analysis, and critical thinking skills. Studies of how students use research websites, for example, show
40

Attention and Addiction Issues: Your Childs Brain on Computers

large amounts of skimming as they bounce impatiently from article to article. Some brain functions, like fast problem solving and adept data juggling, can be enhanced by such activities, and this mental nimbleness shouldnt be underestimated. But the interruptive process can also affect our capacities for imagination, reflection, and concentrationand, oh yes, our ability to remember things. In kids, whose brains are far less developed, the impacts can be significantly magnified. So there you have itmy simple-minded, nonscientific explanation of your childs brain on computers.9 Sleep is another important function that can be disrupted by too much digital stimulation. If you think about it, this isnt particularly surprising, since quality sleep is basically a form of downtime. And as all parents know, or should know, sleep is a crucial aspect of a childs healthy social, emotional, and physical development. Recent research suggests that digital devices and technology can interfere with healthy sleep patterns in a couple of ways. First, a lot of older kids now take their cell phones, gaming devices, and laptops into bed with them at night. Many text each other late when they should be sleeping, arousing their brains while waiting for friends to text them back. Teens, in fact, send more than a third of their texts after lights are out. A lot of other kids play digital games before bed, a habit that can also be disruptive to sleep. Rapidly sequenced video games and popular apps like Angry Birds stimulate the brain, exactly what sleep experts advise against at bedtime. Instead, they recommend calming, relaxed activities, which is one reason why reading to kids is always so highly recommended. So, parents, take note: sleep is essential to mental downtime, and it can easily be compromised by too much digital media.

Driven to Distraction In 2010, journalist Matt Richtel won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of New York Times articles he wrote cataloging the growing dangers and increasing collisions between two major technological advances of the twentieth
41

Talking Back To FaceBook

and twenty-first centuries: driving and media multitasking. His series Driven to Distraction helped spawn a series of legislative efforts in states across the country to ban the use of cell phones and texting while driving and requiring drivers to use hands-free headsets. Growing concerns about the dangers of distracted driving, especially among teenagers, also forced the cell phone and automobile industries, which had previously downplayed the problem, to support new limits and public awareness campaigns about the risks of this increasingly common practice.10 Unfortunately, weve all seen people texting or BlackBerrying while driving, oblivious to the deadly dangers resulting from this lack of focus, and statistics on teen accidents and deaths related to texting and driving are especially troubling. Researchers believe these dangers are related to the way the brain takes in information. Essentially, humans cant effectively process two streams of information at once. If you dont believe the research, try this experiment: stand at a party or in a crowded room and have a conversation with the person in front of you. Listen to what theyre saying. Then also try to listen to what the person behind you is saying. You might be able to hear a name or something very simple, but you wont be able to process both streams of information simultaneously or remember much of either. Now try it with three conversations at onceits impossible. While youre at it, ask your perpetually wired teenager to give this experiment a try. Similarly, if youre engaged in a phone conversation or texting, even if your hands are on the wheel, youre processing a stream of information thats completely separate from the information stream that your brain needs to process so you can drive safely. People often get away with it because driving can be a fairly routine experience, but youre lucky if your distractedness doesnt cause an accident. Research suggests that this dangerously split focus occurs even during hands-free phone conversations. Even though your hands generally stay on the wheel where they belong, youre still overloading your brain with two information streams at the same time. Your functioning is impaired. If a car swerves into your lane or stops suddenly or, God forbid, a child walks in front of your car unexpectedly while youre on the
42

Attention and Addiction Issues: Your Childs Brain on Computers

phone, you lose key milliseconds to make critical decisions and necessary adjustments to avoid an accident. Thats why distracted driving is so very dangerous. Yet for many drivers, both teens and adults, cell phones and BlackBerrys are hard to put down or turn off despite the hazards. Why? I believe its because these devices, and our use of them, have led to compulsive behavior and in some cases have become addictive.

Addiction to Digital Devices Stephanie Brown, a widely respected psychologist and director of the Addictions Institute in Menlo Park, California, says shes seeing more and more families in her practice where both the kids and parents cant tear themselves away from their digital devices. With kids, shes encountering increasing problems with electronic gaming. As she puts it,
Addictions happen when people are trying to control their emotional state. You find something that makes you feel better and then you want more of it, but then there is emptiness in the payoff. Were seeing that, overnight, the happy little soccer player becomes the addicted gamer on World of Warcraft.11

One fifteen-year-old boy I knowan introvert Ill call Jackis obsessed with video games. He plays about four hours daily after school and sometimes double that on weekendsswitching between Call of Duty, the popular violent game where you can stalk and kill terrorists and other bad guys, and World of Warcraft, the phenomenally successful multiplayer online game. Jack says its a way to separate himself from the stress of his daily life and his nagging parents. Most afternoons, he just goes to his room, closes his door, and escapes into his private world of fantasy games. He sometimes wishes that his parents would intervene and make him quit playing and study more, but he doesnt blame the games; instead, he acknowledges theres some emptiness in his life, and the buzz and excitement of digital games helps fill the void.
43

Talking Back To FaceBook

Digital dependency is controversial, and not all experts and psychologists agree with the addiction metaphor. Stanford communications professor Byron Reeves argues that the term addiction [when used with gaming] can cause trouble. Does it mean playing too long? What is too long? Professor Reeves believes that there can be a number of positive effects from extended game play; he cites one study showing that teens who play multiplayer games often have more friends in their social life and a lower BMI (Body Mass Index).12 He has also cofounded a new Silicon Valley company, Seriosity, to develop online games. Still, Reeves acknowledges that some gamers play too much. David Sheff, the author of the best-selling memoir Beautiful Boy: A Fathers Journey Through His Sons Addiction, scoffs at such distinctions when it comes to video games and other digital media. Sheff is convinced that the addiction model applies to video games and other digital content, and he notes that there are rehablike programs in Korea that treat video game addicts, mostly teenagers.13 He also argues that, in his experience, video games are often used like drugs and alcohol to block depressive feelings. As MITs Sherry Turkle points out, vulnerable teens often use digital devices to keep feelings at a distance and hide behind a deliberate outward appearance of nonchalance.14 Addiction, Sheff explains, is indicated by measured neurological changes in the brain and sometimes related physiological and psychological effects, and scientists have seen clear neurological changes from heavy video game use. Unlike gaming, he believes, digital stimuli like repeated texting, IMing, or Facebooking may be more psychologically than physically addicting, but they still have highly addictive qualities. Dimitri Christakis, the pediatric brain researcher, agrees with Sheff: I definitely believe digital media use is addictive, he says. Like other addictions, its a combination of genetic predisposition, coupled with exposure to those behaviors.15 Theres something very serious at play here. We all know teens and adults whose devices are almost like security blankets. Turkle and other researchers talk about teens who use their phones so constantly that it eliminates the privacy and solitude required for true intimacy as well as the space thats necessary for self-reflection. Experts also observe that
44

Attention and Addiction Issues: Your Childs Brain on Computers

this constant connectedness can be associated with increased feelings of anxiety as well as the stress of always being on call, especially among young people who are tethered to their devices and Facebook profiles.16 For some heavy users, digital media can get in the way of sleeping, exercising, socializing, and even showering. If you agree, as I do, that video games, Facebook, smartphones, and other digital media can be truly addictive, and at the very least compulsive, the question becomes what to do about it. Going cold turkey isnt much of an option. David Sheff notes that with drugs or alcohol, the addiction is latent, so the best solution in those cases is not to prime the pump and to abstain completely. Media addiction, however, he believes, is more like food addiction. Even foodaholics have to eat, but the key is to do so in moderation while dealing with dependency issues.17 With digital media, its all about balance and moderation. That sounds pretty sensible to me. As parents, we need to model this balanced approach to digital media use, because our kids are watching and following our example. We all need to take regular time-outs from technology, and experts recommend that we should enjoy significant stretches of time without interruptions or the distractions of digital devices. Taking time to unplug is clearly important for mental health and for minimizing our compulsive and addictive tendencies. Most of all, it will undoubtedly improve the quality of our human relationships, especially with family and friends.

45