If you have kids, especially a boy or male teen, you probably know a little bit about Fortnite Battle Royale already. It’s a 3rd person survival-shooter that game that can be played across multiple platforms (e.g., Xbox One, Playstation 4, tablets). As of March 2019, it has 250 million registered players. At any given…
Are the worries about Generation Z merely hype or is there something to them? I recently posted a blog on the topic of whether “Generation Z” is in trouble. Is this really just a case of generational finger-wagging or is there something to this concern? If you didn’t read my blog but are interested in this…
What can we do as parents when screen problems begin to emerge? Here’s the latest video from my Tech Happy Life YouTube channel. There is much greater detail in my book, Tech Generation: Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World. It’s through Oxford University Press and is available now! Cheers!—Dr. Brooks Recap of the Tech…
Happiness is deeply rooted in your social relationships Countless studies point to relationships as the main factor of personal happiness. Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Robert Waldinger is the current director of the longest study of human health and happiness (a 75-year project). His main takeaway: “Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” Think About…
Isolation in a hyper-connected world We must ask: Is social media causing greater social isolation. It’s funny because we are more connected in ways than ever before. Smartphones and social media allow us to connect with people with such ease. Ironically, we don’t seem to be any happier as a society. In fact, there…
As parents, we want to guide our children the best we can. We want to save them from the countless mistakes we’ve made over the years. We want them to benefit from our wisdom. And what could be wrong with any of that? The Downside of Giving Advice One of my favorite expressions is,…
Welcome back, everyone! This is Part 6 of the series Does Video Game Violence Cause Children & Adolescents to Become Violent? I hope you’ve seen the other parts to this series as the presentation will be more meaningful if viewed in order. In this part, I’ll be looking at the violent crime trends in the…
Hey Gang! I’m getting close to wrapping up this series on the topic, “Does Video Game Violence Cause Children and Adolescents to Become Violent?” In this segment, I cover the findings and limitations of the research on the effects of video game violence. People, including me, can toss their opinions about but what does…
I discussed teens & cell phones (particularly texting addiction) in my previous post. A new problem that has arisen in recent years is teens engaging in “sexting.” This means that teens are sending each other sexually explicit photos or videos of themselves or other teens via their cell phones. A recent survey indicated that…
I was recently interviewed by Fox News here in Austin about whether excessive texting can be damaging for teens. Here is a link to that interview: http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=EDCD902153D1F988A219AC848700B221?contentId=8257261&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1 Now, you have to qualify this by stating that I am still learning how to give a good interview. This was a live interview, and so it…