By Rama K. Ramaswamy
A grant from the Wellesley Education Foundation (WEF) provided for a presentation by Catherine Steiner-Adair, including a signing for her book, “The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood & Family Relationships in the Digital Age.”
Dr. Steiner-Adair is a clinical psychologist, school consultant, author, and teacher whose professional life is devoted to working with children, parents, and schools. She is an Associate Psychologist at McLean Hospital and Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Steiner-Adair drew on real-life stories from her clinical work with children and families, in addition to her consulting work with educators and experts across the country, to offer insights and advice that can help parents achieve greater understanding, authority, and confidence as they come up against the tech revolution unfolding in their living rooms. She addressed ways in which technology are putting children at risk at each stage of development, from infancy through young adulthood. The audience heard about which skills to learn and use to distinguish between educational, healthy, and unhealthy use of technology. They were also informed of practical strategies for nourishing deep attention, creativity, empathy, and meaningful relationships.
The evening featured WHS students performing role-play scenarios which, according to Steiner-Adair, are “all too familiar with parents.” Scenarios included “the Snapchat Meltdown,” “the Disconnected Parent,” and “but I need my phone and iPad because… I’m doing my homework!”
(Left to right): SAC for SEL Annie D. Hall, WHS PTO Co-Presidents Wyndham Flaherty and Michele DeOliveira and WHS Principal Jamie Chisum.VP Victoria Ostler, Assistant Superintendent Joan Dabrowski and Catherine Steiner-Adair.
The two Co-Presidents also implied prioritizing SEL-related grants during their next funding cycle. According to WEF VP Victoria Ostler, “attendees were likely slightly surprised and challenged by her talk. As parents, we often dwell on our children and their use of technology. Catherine Steiner-Adair directed our attention to parental use of technology and the impact on our children’s environment and their relationships with us”.
According to Hall, this was the second time she said she had seen a presentation by Steiner-Adair. “I’ve heard Catherine’s presentation on this topic; both times she was excellent,” said Hall. “I particularly like how she connects with her audience both as a professional and as a mother. I also appreciate how she gives attendees concrete suggestions for managing family technology use.”
When asked how she thought the Wellesley audience received the information/ presentation, she said, “I was so encouraged by the turnout. It’s clear to me this is a topic that resonates with many families. While I can’t speak for the entire audience, it seemed as though the people sitting around me were very engaged in Catherine’s presentation. Many were taking notes.”
Since Hall was also a principal organizer of the Challenge Success initiative, she connected the two. “While Catherine Steiner-Adair is not formally affiliated with Challenge Success, she was the keynote speaker at the Challenge Success conference that was held last October in Palo Alto. Challenge Success encourages any initiative that works toward the goals of decreasing student stress/anxiety and improving student academic engagement. Many aspects of Catherine’s message align with the Challenge Success program goals - [particularly] Catherine’s recommendation that families take more time together ‘disconnected’, which is also in-synch with the Challenge Success goal that encourages families to make sure their children have ample ‘PDF’: playtime, downtime, family time”.
Community Investors, a local organization led by Joe Roberts and Chris Cavallerano, have put PDF into practice by organizing free after-school sports programs for kids (to watch their interview with Wellesley Media, visit http://goo.gl/obSGJE.
Hall and several other parents in the audience agreed that one of the most important take-away points of Steiner-Adair’s presentation was that, “we, as parents, are role models for our children when it comes to technology. We cannot expect our children to ‘disconnect’ if we’re unwilling to make the same effort.”
