In this week’s Chit Chat Across the Pond, I interview author Molly DeFrank on her book “Digital Detox: The Two-Week Tech Reset for Kids” along with Lindsay Tondee who put Molly’s advice to the test with her son Forbes.
If you listen to my shows, you might find the idea of detoxing your children from tech for two weeks to be a crazy idea. In Molly’s book, she describes the behaviors she was seeing in her own six children, and the transformation she and her husband saw when screens were off the table. Molly has applied this not just in her own home, but she’s helped parents online and in real life learn how to make sure technology is there as a tool to accomplish things, not just for the dopamine hit.
Her book gives practical steps to follow. She said she wrote the book she wished she’d had to guide her when she pulled her kids off screens a few years ago. Lindsay describes how she’s worked through the book and how Forbes has actually really enjoyed the change, how his reading ability took off, and how he calls her out if she’s mindlessly scrolling on her phone.
You can find Molly’s book on Amazon, on Barnes & Noble, and Target.
You can find Molly at mollydefrank.com and you can follow Lindsay at twitter.com/idahomonkees.
During the interview Molly mentioned the Gabb “dumb” phone she bought her 12-year-old which you can find at gabbwireless.com/…
And we talked about the Silverware Dance by Forbes – you can see it here:
To add context to Forbes’s maneuvers, the song he’s dancing to is Jálale from the movie ‘Coco’. It’s the type of song that just makes you want to dance. I recommend playing the song while viewing the GIF to get a real feeling for Forbes’s moves.
Thanks Steve!
That helped tremendously. I only read the first few words of your comment before going back to check if there was a volume button on the “video” (hadn’t even stopped to think: gif=no sound ), and turning up my phone to see if I’d muted it. THEN I finished reading, and was ready to head for YouTube, when at last I saw the Vevo music sample! And you’re right, it adds tons of context. I loved that dancing little boy when I stumbled across him in another search and thought, “How adorable– making silverware-sorting FUN!”♡