Raising Humans in a Digital World

Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology

By: Diana Graber

Narrated by: Jill Blackwood

Sexting, cyberbullying, revenge porn, Online predators...all of these potential threats can tempt parents to snatch the smartphone or tablet right out of their children’s hands. While avoidance might eliminate the dangers, that approach also means your child misses out on technology’s many benefits and opportunities.

Raising Humans in a Digital World shows how digital kids must learn to navigate this environment, through:

• Developing social-emotional skills
• Balancing virtual and real life
• Building safe and healthy relationships
• Avoiding cyberbullies and online predators
• Protecting personal information
• Identifying and avoiding fake news and questionable content
• Becoming positive role models and leaders

This audiobook is packed with at-home discussion topics and enjoyable activities that any busy family can slip into their daily routine. Full of practical tips grounded in academic research and hands-on experience, today’s parents finally have what they’ve been waiting for - a guide to raising digital kids who will become the positive and successful leaders our world desperately needs.

Praise for Raising Humans in a Digital World

“If you need practical, positive advice on how to handle your and your kids’ digital lives, look no further. This book tackles the risks and addresses the potential harms, while keeping our eyes on the prize of the remarkable rewards that the online world brings.” (Stephen Balkam, founder & CEO, Family Online Safety Institute)

“Raising Humans in a Digital World is not only a timely book, it’s essential reading for every parent, grandparent, and teacher. Diana Graber empowers you through her educational (proven and practical) curriculum and engages you through anecdotal stories.” (Sue Scheff, founder of Parents’ Universal Resource Experts and author of Shame Nation, Google Bomb, and Wit’s End)

“Brilliant, compelling, and essential are the first words that came to my mind when reading Diana Graber’s Raising Humans in a Digital World. Diana not only taps her own exemplary expertise but also assembles a “who’s who” of digital thought leaders to deliver a treasure trove of pragmatic advice via an engaging storytelling style.” (Alan Katzman, founder and CEO, Social Assurity LLC)

“Diana Graber not only shows parents how to create safe and responsible relationships in this ever-changing digital world, but she gives them the powerful tools to navigate through the many aspects of what is required to keep kids safe online. The misuse of technology and the cruel behaviors that take place daily by kids and teens can be changed, and Graber shows this in her informative and educational book Raising Humans in a Digital World. The book should be every parent’s bible as a resource to ensure that their children are responsible and safe.” (Ross Ellis, founder and CEO, STOMP Out Bullying)

“This beautifully written book gives you the tools to raise healthy kids in a digital world. The anecdotes underscore the thoughtfulness of today’s youth and their hunger for learning how to navigate their world well, instead of just being warned off by fearful adults. It is thoughtfully organized and theoretically sound, and will empower parents to have some of those much-needed conversations with their kids.” (Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director, Media Psychology Research Center and faculty member, Fielding Graduate University)

©2018 Diana Graber (P)2018 AMACOM

Critic reviews

"Her book [Raising Humans in a Digital World] addresses all the potential pitfalls that make parents anxious about children's tech use. But just as importantly, she offers a way to discuss and encourage the possibilities for all the good things happening online." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

"Exceptionally well organized and presented, Raising Humans in a Digital World is packed from cover to cover with at-home discussion topics and enjoyable activities that any busy family can slip into their daily routine. Full of practical tips grounded in academic research and hands-on experience, today's parents finally have what they've been waiting for - a guide to raising digital kids who will become the positive and successful leaders our world desperately needs...very highly recommended for family and community library Parenting and amp; Computer Literacy collections." (Library Bookwatch)

Cyber Civics class for every human

This book was a recommended read for our schools Parent class in Old San Juan which is a Waldorf School. Naturally we look at technology with alot of fear this books taught me about social practices of young people which are not so bad as we think. Cyberbulling, sexting, user agreements, monetizing are some of the online trends we need to know and understand. Lastly we should allow use of web, media and social but as a producer of information and as a tool that will help them become what they really want in life.

Important Subject; Blasé Execution

The recent development of smartphones and related technologies have outstripped our society's capacity to develop systems of culture and education to safeguard the health of users, especially children.

This book was written by a parent of kids at a charter Waldorf school in Los Angeles.

I picked this book up because I parent an eleven-year-old girl.

For a book warning of the dangers of the digital sphere, Graber takes a surprisingly casual tone. Some passages sound like an advertisement for Google, Amazon, or Yelp. Soshana Zuboff's "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" provides a backdrop to suggest that Graber's precautions may not go nearly far enough.

Another failing of Graber's writing is all her talk of "reputation management." For political reasons, I left Facebook in 2015 and haven't looked back. I had maybe 1,400 "friends" at the time, and made efficient use of the platform. I came to dislike the way that Facebook annuls friendships into hierarchies where everyone is a mini celebrity. Such a mindset encourages narcissism in adolescents, and should be avoided. Politicians, business leaders, and real celebrities do need to engage in reputation management, but this is not a condition that we should be looking to democratize.

To speak more to this—Graber cites a cohort of high school kids that got accepted into Harvard. In a private Facebook group, they posted racist and derogatory content, and their acceptances were rescinded. Graber opines, "if only they'd censured themselves, they'd be at Harvard now!" Harvard has enough young racists. On the one hand, we would do well to be less judgmental of others. But on the other, getting people to be less transparent with their views online does nothing to change their underlying mindset.

Another great companion to this book is Bill Plotkin's "Nature and the Human Soul," which details the eight stages of human development. If you're looking to learn more about your child's development, this is a great place to start.

Graber does do well in her review of sexting. The takeaways: don't do it, especially if you're a kid.

In summary, I'm very excited about the Cyber Civics curriculum that's being scaled out in Waldorf schools across the country, but this book doesn't give you much insight into that curriculum, and I hope there are better resources on the subject. Regardless of the quality of the discourse, the content discussed is worth considering.