The New Childhood

Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World

By: Jordan Shapiro

Narrated by: Jordan Shapiro

A provocative look at the new digital landscape of childhood and how to navigate it.

In The New Childhood, Jordan Shapiro provides a hopeful counterpoint to the fearful hand-wringing that has come to define our narrative around children and technology. Drawing on groundbreaking research in economics, psychology, philosophy, and education, The New Childhood shows how technology is guiding humanity toward a bright future in which our children will be able to create new, better models of global citizenship, connection, and community.

Shapiro offers concrete, practical advice on how to parent and educate children effectively in a connected world and provides tools and techniques for using technology to engage with kids and help them learn and grow. He compares this moment in time to other great technological revolutions in humanity's past and presents entertaining microhistories of cultural fixtures: the sandbox, finger painting, the family dinner, and more. But most importantly, The New Childhood paints a timely, inspiring, and positive picture of today's children, recognizing that they are poised to create a progressive, diverse, meaningful, and hyperconnected world that today's adults can only barely imagine.

©2018 Jordan Shapiro (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"For those who lament what the 'app generation' may lack, Jordan Shapiro offers a timely, reassuring scenario." (Howard Gardner)

"Timely, essential, and thought-provoking, The New Childhood is the must-read parenting guide for raising 21st century, digitally driven kids. Instead of raising a white flag and giving in to social media and the Internet, Jordan Shapiro tells parents how to embrace technology, stay involved in their children's lives, and prepare them for their future. Read it! I promise you'll rethink your parenting. I couldn't put it down" (Michele Borba, EdD, author of UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World)

"Placing modern child-rearing in the context of the long story of human cultural adaption, this manual makes the challenges of screens more approachable, and the adult role in meeting them clearer." (Publishers Weekly)

This book tried too hard to be contradictory

To start out I want to say that this book wasn't bad to listen to and I genuinely do appreciate the premise. I have a hard time with many of the statements in the book that are Loosely backed up without any contradictory efforts. when someone makes a few statements in a row that are easily contradicted it then makes me doubt they're clarity across all ideas. I really tried to listen to this book with an open mind but I have a hard time not coming back to the idea that this is one man's futile effort to try and convince himself that allowing screens to raise kids is okay.

Finally a book on raising digital natives that makes sense!

I’ve read a lot of books about how to support digital natives with their digital habits. However this is the first book that really helped me to appreciate the perspective and strategies I could use to support my child. It also gave me a lot of pause for reflection when it came to educating children who are digital natives.

This is a thought provoking book that every parent and teacher should read. It gave me a lot of insight into how we should be supporting our children instead of trying to make them fit inside our archaic definitions of digital use. I highly recommend it!

One of the most important books that I have read

Being the parent of an eleven year old and a seven year old, this book served as an eye opening paradigm shift in understanding their generation’s relationship with the ‘screen’.

A sincere note of appreciation to the author for such an important and well written piece.

narrow scope

in spite of so many opportunities to expand his thesis to other relatable topics, the author focuses so hard on video games. I would have liked to hear more about other technologies and exposures children will experience in the 21st century.