DEEP DIVE: Susan Linn on How “Big Tech” Targets Our Kids
These days, wherever kids are, they’re not far from a screen or a smart speaker– or the brands who are using “educational” toys and games to sell them stuff. Susan Linn, author of WHO’S RAISING THE KIDS?, explains how big tech is targeting our kids.
This month, our "Deep Dive" is into some of our past episodes about screen time: the effects it has on our kids, how tech companies engineer their devices to be as addictive as possible, and how we can allow our kids to enjoy screens with supportive limits.
Psychologist Susan Linn, author of WHO'S RAISING THE KIDS? BIG TECH, BIG BUSINESS, AND THE LIVES OF CHILDREN, isn't anti-technology. She's anti-advertising to children, and has spent her long career spotlighting the "monumental shift towards a digitized-commercialized childhood."
With smart speakers and screens at arms' reach wherever kids go, digital technologies continue to evolve much faster than our understanding of the ramifications of their dominance in our kids' lives.
Susan began her career as award-winning ventriloquist (here she is on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood!) and has become a world-renowned expert on creative play and the impact of media and commercial marketing on children. In this episode, Susan tells us
- Why her point isn't to make parents feel guilty
- Why the best kinds of toys for children do very little
- How branding can creep in where we sometimes don't even perceive it
- What we can do to set parameters on the commercializing of our own kids' lives
Here's where you can find Susan:
- Twitter: @drsusanlinn
- susanlinn.net
- fairplayforkids.org
- Buy Susan's book: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781620972274
What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.
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