1. Do you think you have belief-based relationships or relationship-based beliefs? What about your teens? If there's a difference in your approaches to your values, how do they play out in your decisions or in those of your teen?
2. When have you encountered teens who were passionate about changing the world? Has exposure through technology ever sparked your interest in a cause or led you to world-changing aspirations? Can you share some details?
3. Do you see the creative, innovative, entrepreneurial spirit in your teens or in their peers? How has this gift led to blessings for your family or others? Can you see any downside to this kind of innovative thinking? What would that be?
4. Do you ever feel stressed or overwhelmed after spending time with the tools of technology? Which tools? Are there other factors? Do you see signs in your teens that their tech use contributes to their stress? How might you be able to talk with them about the connections?
5. How can technology lead to fatigue? When have you noticed tech-related tiredness affecting your family members? What success have you had in dealing with the problem? Have you
already found ways to bring any of this up with your teens? How did that go?
6. More and more young people are experiencing depression or anxiety issues. If you have ever struggled with depression, to what coping behaviors did you default? Do you see your teens turning to digital tools to cope with stress or distress?
7. What differences do you see between the challenges kids face today and the ones you faced when you were a teen? What gives you hope about the future? Do you think your teens experience a similar hope? Why or why not?
1. Sherry Turkle wrote, “Technology doesn't just do things for us. It does things to us, changing not just what we do but who we are.” What changes have you seen in yourself that might be explained by technology? Have you seen similar changes in your teenagers?
2. What would be a good method for your family to use for determining how to incorporate face-to-face connecting zones and face-to-face connecting days? Could you set a time for doing this?
3. Have you ever given yourself a media-free time out? How did you feel during your time without screen access? Was the experiment valuable for you?
4. Do you catch yourself living through the lensâthat is, taking so many photos with your phone or camera that you
actually missed aspects of what was going on around you? Does perfectionism play into your photo-taking or your photo-sharing?
5. Do you think you were self-centered during some part of your own teen years? What might be some contributing factors to the self-focus you see in your teens?
