Talks in the Othmer: Screens, Teens, Rattled Parents

Harvard University researchers Emily Weinstein and Carrie James have spent their careers studying teens’ use of technology. In their book, Behind Their Screens: What Teens are Facing (and Adults are Missing), they explore the complex digital universe that teens inhabit and the often misguided efforts of adults to intervene. Drawing on a multiyear project surveying more than 3,500 teens, they explain sexting, ‘comparison quicksand,’ ‘digital pacifying,’ and other social media phenomena that prompt concern if not outright panic on the part of well-intentioned grownups. Matt Schneider, Co-Founder of City Dads Group, leads a conversation about this fundamental generation gap, unfounded assumptions about the evils and benefits of social media, and a ‘reset’ for adults.