Implementing a digital family policy.

• Author: Bair, Amy Lupold
• Position: Social Media - Technology and family

IF YOU FEEL like the world your kids are growing up in is totally different from the one you knew as a child, you are right. From flatscreen televisions to smartphones to tablets to social media and more, technology has integrated itself into almost every aspect of our lives. While the ever-growing digital landscape offers vast opportunities for learning, growth, and entertainment, from a parent's perspective, it also is worryingly similar to a fairytale forest: if your kids unwittingly stray off the path, they might encounter the big bad wolf.

If you are worried about digital pitfalls--including inappropriate content, cyberbullying, screen time overload, and even the monetary cost of staying connected--there is a middle ground between pulling the plug and hoping for the best. As parents, even if we do not understand every nuance of the digital world that we live in, it is important to set rules and parameters to help our kids navigate it. In this way, handling technology is no different from many other things we do to keep our children safe.

Specifically, as the head of a digital family, it is your responsibility to create and implement a Digital Family Policy--a more or less comprehensive document that covers how, when, where, and why your family uses technology (including consequences that will be enacted if rules are broken). The policy should change with technological innovation as well as with the growth and maturation of your children.

Making things up as you go is a bad idea when it comes to how your family lives with--and uses--technology. It also is unwise to assume that your children know what you expect from them as they navigate the digital world. A policy solves both problems. First, it forces you to think about the rules you want to set and to put them on paper and, once your document is complete, it is a simple matter to review it with your children, to answer their questions, and to make sure your expectations are perfectly clear.

You would not hesitate to create a family fire safety plan, a list of numbers to call in case of emergency, or a calendar of weekly activities. In our connected and wired world, having a policy is every bit as important in order to maximize the benefits of technology while mitigating its dangers.

Here are some areas to focus on as you put together a Digital Family Policy:

Create guidelines based on age. It is something every parent has heard--more than once--in multliple-child households: "It's...