TECH N KIDS
creating safe & healthy tech habits
Our mission is to support the mental health of our youth by educating parents on the benefits, risks and safeguards of today’s technology.
Our research-based workshops include psycho-education on cyberbullying, addiction, predators, mental health impacts from social media, accessibility to inappropriate content, and most importantly, resources and tools to implement safeguards so everyone in the family can enjoy the benefits of technology with a little less worry.
parent workshops
“TECH N KIDS, Creating Safe, and Healthy Habits” is the first of a series of workshops to support parents in making choices to promote positive mental health outcomes.
The CDC reports that 30% of teen girls have considered death by suicide. This crisis inspired our work. We have found that many families are starting to give devices to their children at younger ages, and by 5th grade students begin to use email at school, as well as start to create group texts and socialize online. It’s helpful for parents to understand the risks of tech BEFORE their kids go down the content rabbit hole.
According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, 42% of teens have received mean or threatening messages online.
According to the FBI, 89% of sexual advances directed at children occur in internet chatrooms or through instant messaging.
According to the CDC, in 2023, 30% of teen girls reported having considered dying by suicide.
According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, 33% of teens age 16 sexted
We created a research-based contract that focuses on: Stranger Danger, Cyberbullying, Content, Screen Time Limits and left a section blank for your own family rules.
Collaborate with your child and come up with rules together. The more we include our children in the process, the more they respect the rules and why they are in place.
Send us an email and we’ll send our contract to you for FREE!
A LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER
During the pandemic we turned to Tech to keep our kids connected for purposes of learning, staying in friendships, seeing family and sustaining their joy. We parents let down our guard and the rules of screen time changed. Our children were conditioned for 2 years to socialize online. They turned to multi-player games and social media. It seemed innocent and even good for their mental health to allow them open-ended access.
Now, as we enter 2024, our surgeon general has declared a national mental health crisis affecting our youth. The CDC has reported 30% of teen girls have considered death by suicide and Meta is being sued by 33 states for the harm it has caused our kids. This is serious. We can’t turn back the hands of time. The genie is out of the bottle. We must embrace the benefits that technology grants us, AND we also need to understand the dangers and technology’s impact on the mental health crisis so we can get a hold of it.
My goal in founding Tech N Kids is to utilize psycho-education to inform parents and kids about online dangers and arm them with safeguards to decrease rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation, while increasing meaningful connections, self-confidence and happiness.
Deb Shell, Founder
Deb Shell
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Deb Shell is a mental health professional who cares deeply about youth and their well-being. She has a Master’s in Counseling from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. She worked as a school counselor in the Albany Unified School District, worked in Big Tech for over 20 years at companies that include Hulu and Apple. And, she is a mom of three who is figuring it out just like you.
