Parent resources

You can download a Family Tech Agreement Template in Word or Pages format below. This template is just a starting point; you will need to adjust the wording to fit your family's house rules about technology. These agreements also work best when children have some input in the guidelines for technology use.

Family Tech Agreement Template (Microsoft Word)
Family Tech Agreement Template (Apple Pages)
Family Tech Agreement Template (Google Doc template)

If you would like some ideas for additional components of a Tech Agreement, you can download the Additional Items documents below.
Family Tech Agreement additional items (Microsoft Word)
Family Tech Agreement additional items (Apple Pages) 
Family Tech Agreement additional items (Google Doc template) 

ASL Tech Tips: a Facebook page where we post warnings about avoiding online scams and advice about staying safe online. 

Common Sense Media: Independent media and digital citizenship advice for parents and kids. Common Sense Media CEO Jim Steyer spoke at ASL in the autumn of 2009. Common Sense Media: Teens and Social Media Common Sense Media: Privacy and Internet Safety Apple Families: resources from Apple about how to set parental controls, enable restrictions, and share items on Apple devices. When to give your child a smartphone: from Harvard Graduate School of Education's Usable Knowledge. Research Studies Common Sense Media: Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences (2018) Pew Research Center: Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018

How to talk to your kids about screens from The Spinoff (October 19, 2021) The author, Peter Warwick-Mahoney, worked in the Development Office at ASL from 2004-2012.

Little to No Link Between Adolescents’ Mental Health Problems and Digital Technology Use from the Association for Psychological Science (June 28, 2021)

Flawed data led to findings of a connection between time spent on devices and mental health problems from The Conversation (June 23, 2021)

How to have a better relationship with your tech from MIT Technology Review (February 6, 2021)

Screen time and kids: Parents need to worry less about hours logged from CNN (July 29, 2020)

I Was a Screen–Time Expert. Then the Coronavirus Happened from the New York Times (July 27, 2020)

During Lockdown, Google Maps Gives My Son a Way Out from Wired (May 19, 2020)

The 6 Cardinal Rules of Internet Safety All Parents Should Follow from Fatherly - in conjunction with Google (February 12, 2020)

How to Raise Media-Savvy Kids in the Digital Age from Wired (January 27, 2020)

I Monitor My Teens' Electronics, and You Should Too from Wired (January 27, 2020)

Panicking About Your Kids’ Phones? New Research Says Don’t from the New York Times (January 17, 2020)

We asked teenagers what adults are missing about technology. This was the best response from MIT Technology Review (December 21, 2019)

Here’s What’s Happening in the American Teenage Bedroom from the New York Times (November 29. 2019)

The Scientific Debate Over Teens, Screens And Mental Health from NPR (August 27, 2019)

At Your Wits' End With A Screen-Obsessed Kid? Read This from NPR (June 30, 2019)

Social media effect 'tiny' in teenagers, large study finds from the BBC (May 7, 2019)

Screen time has little effect on teenagers' wellbeing, says study from The Guardian (April 5, 2019)

I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what was posted about me from Fast Company (March 18, 2019)

Want Your Kids to Have a Healthy Relationship to Tech? Make This 1 Tiny Change to Your Routine from Inc (March 6, 2019)

Parents can police screen time – but good luck telling your children that from The Guardian (January 30, 2019)

Studies Shoot Down Tech’s Harmful Effects on Kids—So Now What? from Nautilus (January 28, 2019)

The Kids (Who Use Tech) Seem to Be All Right: A rigorous new paper uses a new scientific approach that shows the panic over teen screen time is likely overstated from Scientific American (January 15, 2019)

Don’t fall for the moral panic over children’s screen time from The Guardian (January 7, 2019)

Worry less about children's screen use, parents told from the BBC (January 4, 2019)

Screen time not intrinsically bad for children, say doctors from The Guardian (January 4, 2019)

Depression in girls linked to higher use of social media from The Guardian (January 4, 2019)

‘The New Childhood’ and How Games, Social Media Are Good for Kids from Variety (January 1, 2019)

How much screen time? Silicon Valley parents are still trying to figure it out from the Washington Post (December 27, 2018)

Screen Time for Kids Might Not Be Such a Bad Thing from Scientific American (December 13, 2018)

Limiting screen time for your kid? It’s harder than it looks from the Associated Press (November 19, 2018)

The sneaky science behind your child’s tech obsession from the Washington Post (November 9, 2018)

Screens or no screens? How to hit the screen-time sweet-spot from the Irish Independent (October 1, 2018)

Instagram and Teens: What Do You Need to Know? from Education Week (September 12, 2018)

The Big Myth About Teenage Anxiety from the New York Times (September 7, 2018)

How Your Smartphone Can Make You Healthy and Happy from Psychology Today (August 5, 2018)

I Switched On All My Phone’s Settings For A 10-Year-Old And It Was Fantastic from BuzzFeed News (July 19, 2018)

More Screen Time For Teens Linked To ADHD Symptoms from NPR (July 17, 2018)

What to ask when your child wants to use social media from CNN (July 16, 2018)

Researchers find that filters don’t prevent porn from TechCrunch (July 13, 2018)

I Used Apple’s New Controls to Limit a Teenager’s iPhone Time (and It Worked!) from the New York Times (July 11, 2018)

Do you really know what your kid’s doing on that device? from the Associated Press (June 26, 2018)

'Fortnite' Addiction Isn't the Problem. It's the Symptom from Inverse (June 15, 2018)

Kids Whose Parents Limit Screen Time Do Worse in College, New Study Shows from Inc (June 14, 2018)

Why it’s a mistake to ban social media — and what to do instead from the Washington Post (June 12, 2018)

The Ups and Downs of Social Media from Harvard Graduate School of Education (May 16, 2018)

Instagram, Snapchat, Fortnite: The distractions are endless. Here’s how to help kids cope from the Washington Post (May 14, 2018)

How to Talk to Teens About Dealing with Online Predators from Common Sense Media (April 18, 2018)

Having Your Smartphone Nearby Takes a Toll on Your Thinking from Harvard Business Review (March 20, 2018)

Should my friend block her 12-year-old son’s access to pornography? from The Guardian (January 27, 2018)

How much is ‘too much time’ on social media? from the BBC (January 19, 2018)

What teens wish their parents knew about social media from the Washington Post (January 9, 2018)

• Media Moms & Digital Dads: A fact not fear approach to parenting in the digital age by Yalda T. Uhls
• The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age by Catherine Steiner-Adair 
• Grown up Digital by Don Tapscott

Mind the Gap: the differing views between parents and children on tech use at home (January 29, 2021)

• Zoom presentation
• View the slides
• View the parent survey results
• View the student survey results

Navigating today's tech challenges (October 15, 2020)

• Zoom presentation
• Resources handout