ATLANTA — Author and chief parent officer at Bark Technologies, Titania Jordan, said she is encouraged by the work being done to hold social media companies accountable.
“These devices were engineered to hook us. I’m 45, and I’m addicted. If I was 11 and I had this at school, absolutely not. Forget it,” she told Channel 2’s Lori Wilson.
DeKalb County Schools is one of a thousand districts suing. They are asking for more than $4 million in damages, claiming they’ve had to add more counselors, buy cellphone lockers, and have lost hours in instructional time because students are distracted.
“We have a long way to go, but it starts with first calling it out,” Jordan said.
Her 17-year-old son is a student in DeKalb County. She says she’s proud the district has joined the fight against these big tech companies.
Jordan also created a Facebook group, “Parenting in a Tech World,” and says her 600,000 subscribers are always looking for ways to keep their kids safe.
She recommends no connected tech behind closed doors.
“Nothing good happens when children can connect to the outside world from their bedrooms,” Jordan said.
She also recommends making sure you are controlling what you can.
“Just type in your internet service provider, plus two words, parental controls, and just see what they offer you for free,” Jordan said.
“I say delay is the way, delay, delay, delay No parent has ever said, ‘You know, I wish I would have given them that sooner. When you hand your 6-year-old an iPad even to play an educational game that makes them feel so much better than Legos or dolls or playing outside, and that is sad, because they’re not gonna want to do all those things anymore,” she added.
“We gotta talk about it, then we have to fight it. And there’s no one better to fight it than parents,” Jordan said.
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