Video transcript

Daniel Donahoo (digital learning adviser):

We live in the 21st century and technology is all around us. Children are seeing it and are observing it and exposed to it all the time, so it’s important that we support our children to understand how to have a healthy and appropriate relationship with technology.

One thing parents can do is model balance. So it’s about recognising that we can all use technology alone, and that means us and our children, but we can also use it together as a family. What’s most important is the whole parenting experience and all the time you spend with your child, and technology in the world in which we live now is just a part of that mix.

The best thing that we can do is not all the time but sometimes spend time on technology with our child, then we’ll be able to see what they’re playing or see what they’re watching, and we’re better placed to make good parenting decisions about whether we think that they should be watching that or not, and the other thing about that is, if we’re on technology with our child, we’re able to model that technology is more than just something that you watch television on or watch a bit of YouTube on. We can show them all the other different things that they may be able to do using what technology can provide.