Recently, I've been having a lot of conversations with students about being productive, critical, digital consumers. Given the amount of time we are all spending online, think for a minute about ALL the stuff we're constantly consuming. Have you talked with your kids today about what they've seen/read online? If we're not asking them questions daily about this, we're missing out on some really important topics of conversation.
This Forbes article discusses a recent BBC article that revealed, "nearly half of young people aged between 11 and 16 tend to believe the news they see on social media – often regardless of the source." I mean...think about some of the things you've read on social media and let this sink in.
The point is, our consumption isn't going down anytime soon, so we have to equip our kids to be thoughtful consumers. Even with my own, we talk about commercials and TV shows, why we can't believe everything we see, and why products are depicted a certain way; small conversations that can really encourage more critical consumption.
I know we're all really busy and this feels like just another thing we have to add to the list of things to worry about/check in on; however, it can be a quick meal-time check-in, or car ride to band practice or that soccer game. These check-ins can really help to build some life-long skills.