On September 24th, 2020, OneOp hosted, “Modeling Healthy Technology Behaviors for Young Children.” This webinar is the latest session in our ongoing “Sexual Behavior in Children & Youth Series,” which has been going strong since May 2019.
For this latest installment, we were joined by Dr. Erin Taylor, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center – Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (CCAN) in Oklahoma City, OK. Her goals in this webinar were to share her active involvement in research on youth engagement in electronic and online sexual behaviors as well as the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices for children with problematic sexual behavior and trauma.
Webinar Highlights
Looking back at this very informative webinar, we wanted to share some of the highlights from this session particularly beneficial for service providers working with children and families. This webinar sheds light on the importance for parents and caregivers to model healthy boundaries with technology for healthy child social-emotional development.
- Taylor began her presentation by providing statistics that show the rise of technology use and how it has shifted in the last several years. A sidebar to that was showing how our use of technology has changed and shifted greatly just in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- So, why is important to know that rates of technology use have increased? With increased tech use rates, we also see a corresponding increase in electronic and online sexual behaviors as well as other concerning online behavior (i.e., cyberbullying).
- With increased concerning online behaviors, there are lots of concerns about how these behaviors affect youth and children.
- Taylor then went over stats for online pornography, showcasing its effects on brain chemistry and highlighting that there are significant increases in child sexual abuse material that is being disseminated online.
- Also, Dr. Taylor spoke on the phenomenon of sexting, youth attitudes regarding sexting, the legal ramifications around sexting, and how sexting can be used for cyberbullying purposes.
- She then discussed challenges in parent-child relationships around technology use and several ways to model healthy technology behaviors including designating some device-free time, digital etiquette, family media plans, and setting up privacy and protection on social media accounts.
- The webinar ended with Dr. Taylor sharing some key takeaways including several behavioral interventions that families can start implementing and several online resources out there.
Archived Viewing and CE Credit Info
If you happened to miss this live webinar, the archived recording of this training is available on the event page here. Free Continuing Education Credits for this event are still available for licensed social workers, professional counselors, case managers, certified family life educators, and family therapists. These CE credits will be available to obtain through September 24th, 2022!
Also, be sure to stay up to date with all the ongoing programming that is part of our Sexual Behavior in Children & Youth Series!
