cover image Talking Back to Facebook: The Common Sense Guide to Raising Kids in the Digital Age

Talking Back to Facebook: The Common Sense Guide to Raising Kids in the Digital Age

James P. Steyer. Scribner, $15 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-4516-5734-0

In this cogent, forthright treatise, Steyer looks at privacy in the modern age and the precautions parents should take to protect their children and better monitor their digital lives. Founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, a nonpartisan children's advocacy group in San Francisco, Steyer (The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effects on Our Children) bemoans the alienation and narcissism engendered by time-consuming social media sites like Facebook, opining that they "can diminish the quality and depth of personal relationships and weaken%E2%80%A6basic communication skills." He cautions against the "cruel and damaging" consequences of phenomena such as sexting and cyberbullying, while wisely arguing that teens should self-reflect before they self-reveal. Steyer, a father of four, further warns that tech-savvy children are "not just watching TV, listening to iPods, and playing video games. They're inhabiting a virtual universe that's shaping their reality, setting their expectations, guiding their behavior, and defining their interests, choices, and values." With the second portion of the book broken into chapters covering a child's digital development from birth to 15-years-old, parents at every level will likely find something relevant here. Though he offers nothing Earth-shatteringly new%E2%80%94it is a common sense guide, after all%E2%80%94the earnestness and conviction with which Steyer addresses his topic effectively highlights the many pitfalls of growing up with Facebook, and most importantly%E2%80%94how to avoid them. (May)