This page provides families resources for managing the influence that technology has on us so we have more space in our lives for God and those we love.

Lent provides famiies the opportunity to refocus on what matters most. This Lent, your family can print and use this table tent to help make tine at the dinner table one that brings your family closer to God and one another.  

By printing, and folding this table tent in three parts (tape helps hold it together) you can remind your family to reserve time at the table for conversations with one another and get great ideas for things to talk about together and ways to live out our faith this Lent.

"You shall lvoe the Lord your God with all your heart, wtih all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength. . . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these"
Mark 12: 30-31

Tips for parents to manage device use for you and your children: Click this link to get a printable card with simple tips for taming technology in the home. Find more tips on managing device use in your home by clicking this link.



Journey through Lent and grow closer as a family with this Printable Table Tent to Make Space for God! and promote great conversations at the dinner table Click this link to get a printable table tent to use in your home. By printing, and folding this table tent in three parts (tape helps hold it together) you can remind your family to reserve time at the table for conversations with one another and get great ideas for things to talk about together and ways to live out our faith this Lent.

Asking parents, "What makes it more difficult to raise kids today?" the Barna Group found the number one answer was "technology and social media." Many parents are frustrated with the way that their children seem completely captivated by technology and they want some kind of practical way to manage the impact of technology on their family without having to live like the Amish.

Our Kids and Technology section includes a lot of techniques for managing screentime. Another important resource is our Tip Sheet for parents on how to set healthy guidelines for their childrens' technology use as well as guidance for how to manage our technology use as parents. . 

Of course, many of our children have already begun to use technology and may have formed habits that aren't the best. Our faith helps us out here through the season of Lent which challenges each of us to change the way we live by making a sacrifice that brings us closer to God. Here are few tips for ways that parents can use Lent as a time to make a change in how our family uses technology:

1. Start by reforming your own technology use as a parent. This will give us a lot more credibility. Provide a positive example.
2. Use the tip card to introduce a change in how your family uses technology with some practical changes that protect dinnertime and bedtime.
3. Offer your children lots of positive reinforcement and make sure to be encouraging with them and patient with them when making the change.

Studies that document the benefits of charging phones outside our bedrooms: 

• Very Well Health:: Why You Should Not Sleep wtih Your Cell Phone at Night
• Daily Mail: Why You Should NEVER Keep Your Phone in Your Bedroom
• The Atlantic: No Phones in Bed Or the Health Case for Books. New research shows how screens tell our brains to stay unnaturally alert

• Center for Addiction Studies at the University of Columbia finds that family dinners signifcantly reduce the likelihood of substance abuse.
• The Atlantic: Family Dinners Build Relationships and Help Kids to Do Better at School
• Swedish Health: 7 Benefits of Eating Together as a Family
• Harvard Study Finds Family Dinners Reduce Likelihood of Depression in Children

In his Confessions, St. Augustine tells us something we all need to know: 

"O God you made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." 

God designed us for communion with Him. This means that as long as we are not with Him in heaven we long for Him with an infinite desire. So many of our problems are rooted in us trying to satisfy this desire with something else. As parents, it is our job to help our children know that they have this hunger and to help them direct it constructively. 

In On Christian Doctrine, St. Augustine teaches that God made us for relationship and our spiritual health depends upon us by getting our priorities straight when it comes to three types of relationship:

1. With God who we should love above all things. This relationship defines and orders every other relationship in our lives. 
2. With people who we should love for their own sake.. These relationships should be ordered in priority based upon their closeness to us and how God has called us to care for them (c.f. Book 1 #28)
3. With things which may be used. We may use creation, but always with a reverence that recognizes that what God created is good and should be stewarded with care.

Working with parents, I often hear parents grumble that kids who have grown up around cellular phones and tablets their whole lives are incapable of communicating like prevous generations. It's not that these kids are incapable of good communication. It's just that they need practice. 

Speaking face to face demands a sophisticated set of skills that take time to develop. Children who grew up with social media and texting readily available have spent a lot of time developing competencies at using those tools. It's not that the capabilties they developed with social media and texting are necessarily bad. Rather, the time that it took to develop those competencies came from somewhere. 

It's not that young people are incapable of speaking well in person or on the phone. They just need more practice. As parents, we can help them to develop these communication skills. We can help by intentionally encouraging them in using these skills while also helping to ensure they do not displace the development of these skills by substituting social media.

Social media presents a tempting alternative to more direct communication. At a presentation at Archbishop Murphy High School this October, one student described Social Media as giving her a sense of power as if she was speaking to the world all at once. Social media gives us the sense that we are communicating like a celebrity to a large audience. This kind of communication lacks the feedback of a one on one conversation. It doesn't demand require vulnerability or listening on our part. It is much less initimate. Ultimately, it's a little like junk food. It feels good at first but doesn't satisfy.

Take time with your children to teach them the art of conversation. Encourage them to work at this skill like any other. Here are some other skills to consider helping them to develop:

• Active listening
• Initiating and responding to a phone conversation
• Writing a letter or Email
• Texting to a small group as an alternative to a social media post

Ultimately, as parents, the best thing we can do for our children if we want them to set aside unhealthy attachments to things like screens in favor of good relationships with God and other people is to help them grow in faith. By understanding the faith, participating in the sacraments, following the commandments and learning to pray, we grow in relationship to God and other people.