Janet's guest is psychologist, writer, researcher, and Harvard lecturer Susan Linn. For decades, Susan has been a passionate advocate for our children and a steadfast fighter against the infiltration of Big Business and Big Tech into kids' lives (and parents' pocketbooks). In an eye-opening discussion, Susan describes how digital culture is designed to indoctrinate children into consumerism and brand loyalty, and how it's geared to create dependencies on games and devices for stimulation and soothing. She explains how games and devices teach values that are often diametrically opposed to our own, how they can affect learning by shrinking our children’s world and even interfere with parent-child relationships. Ultimately, Susan and Janet focus on the positive actions we can take to lessen the impact of manipulative marketers while realistically acknowledging the role of digitized culture in all of our lives.

More to learn in this episode:

• How to choose the most beneficial toys and programs for our kids
• How advertisers capture children's attention and encourage them to nag us for more, more, more
• Why combatting commercialized culture isn't only a family issue, but a societal one
• What Alexa offers to "bored" children
• Computer games are less "active" for kids than we might believe

For more on Susan, her work, and her books, visit: www.https://www.consumingkids.com/

For more advice on common parenting issues, please check out Janet's best-selling books on Audible, FREE with a 30-day trial membership if you use this link: adbl.co/2OBVztZ. Paperbacks and e-books are also available at Amazon, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books.

Thanks again to Ritual Vitamins for sponsoring this episode. Get 10% off your first 3 months when you shop online at ritual.com/respect.

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