THE CONNECTED PARENT

An essential guide for parents navigating the new frontier of hyper-connected kids.

John Palfrey and Urs Gasser are experts in their field and bring unmatched expertise to THE CONNECTED PARENT gained from over a decade of research at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. While this field of study is relatively new, they are both pioneers who present up-to-the-minute data and use their own innovative research to provide informed, reasonable approaches to reassure and empower parents.

Today's teenagers spend an average of nine hours per day with their noses immersed in the glow of their screens. Tweens are not far behind, at six hours a day. Parents of this new, ultra-connected generation struggle with decisions completely new to parenting: Should they limit a child's screen time? Should an eight-year old be allowed to go on social media? What about playing video games with strangers? How can we keep them safe from harm when they go online? Are they going to grow up less socially able if their friendships are mostly conducted via text and emojis?

In THE CONNECTED PARENT, acclaimed childhood development and technology experts John Palfrey and Urs Gasser tackle these and other concerns of parents in the digital age. The book is organized by the topics parents have asked about most often, from screen time and safety to addiction and aggressive behavior. But rather than pretending to have the only-or even the best-advice for every child and every family, the authors share the evidence as well as their own (sometimes strong) point of view, all in order to empower parents with ground-breaking insights that they can use to inform their approach for their own unique situations.

The outcome of over a decade of research on children and technology conducted at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, THE CONNECTED PARENT is required reading for any parent trying to help their kids safely navigate the fast-changing, uncharted territory our hyper-connected world.

The authors' previous book BORN DIGITAL has sold over 32k copies across formats and has active licenses in Brazil (Artmed Editora) and Turkey (T.C. Istanbul Kultur Universitesi).

John Palfrey is president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and a former faculty director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. He previously served as head of school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Urs Gasser is executive director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society and a professor of practice at Harvard University. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.