The Big Disconnect

Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age

By: Catherine Steiner-Adair, Teresa H. Barker

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Have iPads replaced conversation at the dinner table?

What do infants observe when their parents are on their smartphones?

Should you be your child's Facebook friend?

As the focus of family has turned to the glow of the screen—children constantly texting their friends, parents working online around the clock—everyday life is undergoing a massive transformation. Easy availability to the Internet and social media has erased the boundaries that protect children from the unsavory aspects of adult life. Parents often feel they are losing a meaningful connection with their children. Children are feeling lonely and alienated. The digital world is here to stay, but what are families losing with technology's gain?

As renowned clinical psychologist Catherine Steiner-Adair explains, families are in crisis around this issue, and even more so than they realize. Not only do chronic tech distractions have deep and lasting effects, but children desperately need parents to provide what tech cannot: close, significant interactions with the adults in their lives. Drawing on real-life stories from her clinical work with children and parents, and her consulting work with educators and experts across the country, Steiner-Adair offers insights and advice that can help parents achieve greater under-standing, authority, and confidence as they come up against the tech revolution unfolding in their living rooms.

We all know that deep connection with the people we love means everything to us. It's time to look with fresh eyes and an open mind at the disconnection we are experiencing from our extreme device dependence. It's never too late to put down the iPad and come to the dinner table.

Thought-provoking, relevant and so important for today's families

This was one of the best, thought-provoking and relevant parenting books I have read. A must read for today's tech-era families.

Every parent should hear/read this book

An overall review of the concerns related to the new tech driven era and the kids. A tool to address most of these concerns and hopefully maintain the balance of tech use within the families

Trying to make my way through despite the naration

The book has some good information, but unfortunately, for me anyway, the narration colors it in such a way that I find it difficult to digest. This narrator may be fine for fiction, but for what is essentially a parenting book, her tone and way of speaking comes off (again for me, maybe not others) as being judgmental and extremely "bookish"/conservative. A more natural, less formal tone, one where not every syllable sounds like it's being pronounced with careful annunciation, would, I think, but the parent at ease a bit more and less on the defensive. Perhaps that's not the point of this book, it's to cause concern, but I do think the narration gets in the way by making some of us feel judged.

Regardless, I do agree mostly with the information presented and will try to write more about my take on that once I get through the entire book - I'm about 1/3 of the way through - and will update this review. Until then, just know that you may or may not have the same feelings about the narrator, it seems that I'm in the minority, but did want to emphasize that it's a valuable read even if you have a similar issue as I do with it...

A must read!

Great book, every parent can take something home from this-no matter how careful you already are about technology in the home!

Predictably alarming & disconcerting

Very useful framing of challenges for children and their parents. I would have appreciated more focus on advice to deal with coaching children regarding peer pressures for parents seeking to shelter them from environments that are awash in texting, Facebook, and Snapchat.