Parenting in the Age of Attention Snatchers

Book excerpt: Are your kids glued to their screens? Here is a practical, step-by-step guide that gives parents the tools to teach children, from toddlers to teens, how to gain control of their technology use. As children spend more of their time on tablets and smartphones, using apps specially engineered to capture their attention, parents are becoming concerned about the effects of so much technology use—and they feel powerless to intervene. They want their kids to be competent and competitive in their use of technology, but they also want to prevent the attention and behavioral problems that can develop from overuse.In this guide, Lucy Jo Palladino doesn’t demonize technology; instead she gives parents the tools to help children understand and control their attention—and to recognize and resist when their attention is being "snatched." Palladino’s straightforward, evidence-based approach applies to kids of all ages. Parents will also learn the critical difference between voluntary and involuntary attention, new findings about brain development, and what puts children at risk for attention disorders.