Episode Transcript
Patricia Cangas (00:00.59)
Welcome to Pixel Parenting, the podcast that helps families raise kids in a world full of screens using science and curiosity. Here, we share science-backed strategies and real conversations to help you build healthier digital habits with practical tools for everyday parenting in this digital age. Let's get into it. In any app store, educational shows up again and again on kids' apps and shows. The hard part is knowing which ones actually help kids learn.
Because there isn't one clear standard for what the word educational has to mean in those platforms. So a lot of the sorting still falls on us parents. So if creating apps and shows feels exhausting and overwhelming, you're not alone. Today I'm joined by Charlotte Wright. She's a learning designer and researcher at Begin, an early learning media and tech company. She's the president of the Children's Media Association Bay Area chapter.
She spent nearly a decade as an early childhood educator and was a Lego Foundation research fellow working specifically on playful learning and parenting. In this episode, Charlotte walks us through six research-backed characteristics to evaluate kids' media. We'll cover those: media green flags, red flags, and how to think about reward systems and many practical tools to implement it at home. Let's jump right in.
Thank you so much for being here. I'm very excited about this conversation. I think it's gonna be very practical and very helpful for parents. Welcome. Thank how did you end up focusing on children's media and early childhood development and what's your story?
Charlotte Anne Wright (01:23.022)
Thank you so much for having me. So
Charlotte Anne Wright (01:31.278)
Great, thank you. Well, thank you so much again for having me. I'm so happy to be here. So I started my career in the classroom. I was a early childhood educator for almost a decade. and I made the hard decision to leave the classroom because I was noticing this gap between research and practice. the classrooms and schools I was working in. There wasn't a lot of
play. It was a lot of focus on direct instruction for young children. And what the research says, what I had learned is that children need play, right? And that play isn't just for fun. It can take on many different roles in the child's life and it's so critically important. So I went back to graduate school to study early childhood policy actually. I wanted to see because other countries have play in their policies. How could we help folks understand the power of play and actually get that into policies for kids?
While I was there, my thesis was building actually a rubric around how we can conceptualize different types of play and so we can get really clear about the outcomes that are associated with certain types of play. Because sometimes even in research it says, play leads to better reading outcomes, but
But really, what's happening? What are the nuances there? And so I created this tool called the Explanatory Rubric for Play in Early Childhood, or ERPEC for short. Folks can look it up if they're interested. But from there I was presenting it to different folks who were interested in it. And one thing led to another. And from presenting that I was able to have this wonderful opportunity to work.
As a Lego Foundation research fellow for nearly three years, focusing on playful learning and parenting, actually specifically. And I worked with Dr. Kathy Hirsch Pasic, who is the absolute champion of playful learning in early childhood. I learned and I owe her so much with Lego. And from there, really my transition to children's media came from a conversation I had while I was doing this work in parenting with a former student who I called him and I said, What are you doing? Over
Charlotte Anne Wright (03:25.1)
vacation and he said, I'll be playing this video game and watching this movie and watching TV and kind of this light bulb went off like I'm doing all this work to support parents to understand playful learning and break down some of those barriers. But there's a huge part of the population
Who just can't spend that time with their kids, you know? And I even as much as I built in a lot of my tools to be easy to use during routines and errands and cooking, the reality is a lot of parents are working multiple jobs and aren't able to do that. And that's where media comes in. And so I saw the power of media to transcend a lot of the barriers I saw both in the classroom and also working with parents. And I thought, what if someone like me who has all this knowledge about how young children learn and playful learning, learning science?
works in media and make sure that the media that kids are seeing can unlock some really powerful learning outcomes for them and developmental outcomes. So that's what led me to children's media. And now I get to practice my mission at Begin, which is an early learning media and tech company for kids and families as a learning designer and researcher there. And I'm also the president of the Children's Media Association Bay Area chapter.
Patricia Cangas (04:33.89)
Fascinating and I have so many questions about all that you've done and like how you know. Let's start with why do you think the educational label is so confusing for parents? I I guess it makes sense to ask the question both in media and games in general, or entertainment. Why is the label confusing?
Charlotte Anne Wright (04:51.894)
think it's confusing for many reasons. I think the first is that what does that mean? Educational in what way? And how educational, right? And who's saying it's educational? And I think the unfortunate reality is this isn't regulated. There's no real official regulation system. Anyone can say their app or their show is educational. And now I'm seeing more and more it's not just educational, it's also expert backed and research backed. But there isn't, you know
the need for there to be evidence to back it up or a badge that is you know, that you see consistently, consistent use. There's some great outlets like common sense media that parents can go to their website and they do have real experts in kids assessing games and TV shows and apps so you can get a more comprehensive view on is this actually educational and is it educational in the way that matters to me and my family.
Patricia Cangas (05:45.984)
Yeah, and to that point, I'm preparing basically what you're gonna talk about next. But like why in early childhood play is so important for learning and you know, like why is it so important? Just let's put parents in that mindset before we talk about what's next.
Charlotte Anne Wright (06:01.026)
Yeah, so play is really how young children's brains learn. They need to construct knowledge and the way that they're doing that is through interacting with their environment in playful ways. And when I say play, I don't just mean like playing house or yeah, playing pretend or things like
like playing outside or things that we automatically think of when we hear play. It's also like pushing a block off the tower and seeing what happens, right? And then they're they're learning from those experiences and constructing the knowledge. Their brains are trained to be active and they're trained to be social.
We have socially gated brains. That means we need to learn from other people, especially young children, that back and forth communication with a parent or serve in return you sometimes hear is so important to how children learn. And play is a big part of that, right? Parents can model certain things.
through play or invite children to learn certain things by setting up a play environment and then watching them and seeing what happens and maybe asking questions. But if you're just telling a child something, they're not going to learn it as well as they will if they're actually building that knowledge themselves. I mean, and to be fair, the same goes for adults.
Too, right? I mean, if we think of the times when we've learned something that's really stuck and we've been excited about it, it's times where we've been actively engaging in that learning and not just ingesting things.
Patricia Cangas (07:23.638)
Yeah, it the experience part of things, like actually experiencing with how things work, right? That's where the learning comes from. And in play it's the same. They're just experimenting with the physical world, right? And social world probably when they're testing those limits that we all know about. So let's relate that to media quality. So when parents ask, Is this app or show good? What are they really trying to solve? What is it? Good quality media. Yeah, so
Charlotte Anne Wright (07:52.558)
Quality media is media that, you know, doesn't replace real life and learning off the screen, but it's extending, it's enhancing that, sparks curiosity, invites kids to think and interact and ideally connect what they see to their real world. And I'd love to give our listeners a framework, a way to take a piece of media and assess its quality in a way that feels more organized for them, not just black and white. And so
The way that I conceptualize this is through these key six characteristics that we can look for. And so unfortunately, it would be rare for media to have all six characteristics. If it does, very high quality, but the more it has, the higher the quality. And it just gives you a framework for how to think about things. So these characteristics are that I'm going to share the same characteristics that developmental psychologists and learning experts identified as these key characteristics to playful learning. So they did all this research and they
found that these characteristics were present in studies where there were really powerful learning outcomes.
And they also saw, these characteristics are also inherently play. They're characteristics that we see in play as well. So I want to give credit to my mentor, Dr. Kathy Hirsch Pastick, and her colleague, Dr. Roberta Gollenkoff, and their colleagues for doing so much of the research behind uncovering these six characteristics and also studying them and their role in different settings. So just as an aside, you can also keep these characteristics in mind. For example, when you're picking a preschool for your child, or if you're looking at a curriculum or an
Extracurricular. These are the characteristics that will really unlock powerful learning and play for your child. So, okay, are you ready? You might want to 10 if you're listening. Because there's there is six of them. but the first one is active. So if children should be thinking, responding, practicing, solving. It doesn't necessarily mean that the media has to get them up and moving or be traditionally hands-on. We know a lot of media is sedentary. Children are watching something. But
Charlotte Anne Wright (09:54.71)
We want it to be minds on. We want them to be actively thinking. So questions you can ask is, is this making my child think or predict or solve problems? It's my child asking questions, getting curious. So things you can look for is, for example, TV shows that pause for predictions or questions. Blues clues is a great example, right? It has the child actively thinking, what might happen next? apps that have
Puzzles or games or opportunities for the child to make decisions. Those are also signs that it's tapping into that active characteristic. The next characteristic is engaging. So children are focused.
And they're interested, they're not distracted. And critically, they're not over just over stimulated. I think that's something that's really hard. Children can seem engaged. What's really happening is that they're just overstimulated by so much noise and sound and flashing colors and lights. But to be really genuinely engaging, they need to be immersed due to their own curiosity and natural focus. So you can try to see, is my child genuinely focused and curious, or are they just glued to the screen?
Is this holding their or how is this holding their attention? And so things to look for are slower pacing with a clear storyline or clear goal, content that sparks
that sustained interest, maybe they're talking about it with you after because they're really interested in what they what they saw or what they did. And then you want to look for those minimal rapid scene changes, flashing effects, and reward systems, right? Because reward systems can engage children, but it's engaging them in the idea of getting a prize rather than the actual experience. so in cases like that it wouldn't fall under how we define what's actually engaging.
Patricia Cangas (11:37.516)
So regarding the active, for instance, watching a movie, how would you choose a movie that has their minds on? That's the first question. And the second question I have is the fact that there is a reward system, is it by default not good to say in a simple way? Or is there a reward system that an optimal reward system, right? That doesn't tap into over stimulation and things like that. Yeah.
Charlotte Anne Wright (12:05.644)
So with a movie, that's such a good question because movies we are just sitting, we're watching. We want to look for movies that'll make our child think, or I guess you as a parent can think like, is this going to inspire conversations for us after? And I think a lot of the some of the work with some of these characteristics and some of the type of media.
is the role of the parent in bringing that in. And for something like a movie with active, I think it has to go back to the parent of how can I extend this learning maybe a little bit later, or is this movie going to offer us the chance to have interesting conversations? Like is it thought provoking in that way?
Patricia Cangas (12:42.572)
Yep, that's a clear practical question and advice for listeners. That's great. Thank you.
Charlotte Anne Wright (12:47.318)
Right, of course. And then about the reward system, I think it's tricky because so many you see reward systems in schools too. Even as a teacher, we were encouraged to use that. but the gold standard would be that the child is motivated enough by what they're doing that they don't need this external, this extrinsic motivational factor.
So for example, I've seen apps where the child there's no reward system, but the child is just so invested because, for example, it's an early coding app, Code Spark is the name. They're so invested because they are creating their own game. Like the reward is in the activity that they're actually doing. So I would say
Like a reward system isn't inherently terrible. I think it is actually kind of hard to find apps without a reward system. But you wanna make sure I think you can observe your child's behavior.
Like for example, if they're asking to play the app, are they saying, I'm really excited to continue this thing I was building or working on? Or are they saying, I really want to get the star or I am two two stars away from buying something at the store, right? And I think it just serves a different purpose. Like if your goal is to have your child have playful learning experiences when they're engaged in this app, then that's a sign like it's not happening to the fullest potential it could. But
Yeah, sometimes you are just looking for a a distraction for your child if it's safe and you know, you just need ten minutes and disengages them in that way. It's not saying it's terrible.
Patricia Cangas (14:19.63)
It was not an easy question because the whole game processes in education, you know, the the reward system is in there. You just gotta be careful that intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation are balanced, right? So
Charlotte Anne Wright (14:32.139)
Exactly.
Patricia Cangas (14:33.004)
And I know that for parents it is hard to balance that and to I'm trying to be practical, like if I see a game or an app that's giving the child points or whatever that's or stars, I wanna send a message that's bad per se. But just raise the awareness that motivation could be being led not by actual learning but by this extrinsic star motivation, right? So there needs to be just being mindful about it. It's important.
Charlotte Anne Wright (15:01.774)
Yeah, and if that's what they're focused on, if they're just focused on getting the star, like we know from research, like the learning that precedes that winning of the star isn't going to be as sticky. Like it's not going to stay with them or not as likely to stay with them because they're so focused on getting the star. And depending on how, you know, this the app is set up, but if the child is just picking answers randomly because they want to get the star rather than actively thinking through it, then yeah, it doesn't become about the learning anymore.
Patricia Cangas (15:30.91)
Exactly. So if the app is designed in a way that to get the start you can actually do the trial error mechanism, then the point of learning is lost. But the app is designed in a way that you won't get the start via trial and error. You actually have to think and be engaged. Then well yeah, then start is not, you know, it's actually engaging them and they're learning in the way. So it's okay. I just had that question. Because I also wonder like when what's the balance, right? So we have active, engaged, let's go to the third one.
Charlotte Anne Wright (15:59.682)
Yeah, the third is meaningful. So ideally children could connect what they're seeing or doing to their own life or something in the real world. But here is another example of where us adults might have to come in to bridge that gap. Because we know a lot of media takes children to fantastical worlds, focuses on imagination, which has value in its own right. but how can we help them connect whatever concepts or ideas they're learning through that experience back to
their real life so that they can transfer what they learn because we know in order for learning to be again sticky, children need to have a lot of opportunities to transfer that into other scenarios. So you can think about ways or questions you can ask is can my child relate this to their own life, their own interests? What does this help them understand?
about their life or about the real world, or how can I help them transfer what they've learned into the real world? So you can look for stories about everyday experiences, like friendships or emotions, content that's tied to your child's interests, or media that offers opportunities for you to extend that learning at home.
Patricia Cangas (17:03.222)
You can do that with movies and like a lot of apps. Even if the kid is playing individually, maybe afterwards you can ask questions and help them relate that playtime to real life things.
Charlotte Anne Wright (17:14.614)
Yeah, definitely. Like if you know your child is on an app that's teaching them letters, say you know they learned letter B was like the focus of the lesson on the app that day. You can do a quick activity like, let's see if we can find anything that starts with the letter B in our kitchen. You know, that could take thirty seconds, one minute, and just shows them like, yeah, like I can find or knowing the letter B is important for my real life beyond this screen. And then
Patricia Cangas (17:40.13)
Yeah, I love it.
Charlotte Anne Wright (17:41.932)
The fourth characteristic is socially interactive. So the experience would encourage conversation, collaboration, shared experience. And this is where a lot of media falls short. So much for media for kids and adults is solitary by nature. And this is where, again, we have to be careful because children need real human connect. I mean, we all do.
But especially very, very young children need human connection. They need that back and forth. so we need to be careful that media isn't replacing social interaction. So you can ask, does this encourage my child to talk, share, play with others? Can we engage in this together?
Can we have conversations about this together? Is it inspiring my child? Like is my child so engaged in it that they're talking about it at the dinner table or wanting to show me what they're doing? So you can look for those things. Like if your child is so excited about it that they want to talk about it. But again, this is another place where us adults can come in and scaffold and supplement to make sure they are having that social interaction piece. But some media that like co-player games or multiplayer games or collaboration games.
are great examples of of bringing social interaction in in a really meaningful way. You can also look for media that's inspiring your child to like act it out after or storytell or pretend play and bring that in. And the next is iterative, which you were talking about a little bit earlier when you were mentioning like that trial and error. So that's really what it is. The experience isn't just mindless tapping.
Patricia Cangas (19:02.655)
Awesome. Great.
Charlotte Anne Wright (19:14.664)
It involves chances for the child to try, fail, and then revise it and try again. It's not always a simple right or wrong answer. It's chances for experimentation and deeper thinking. so you can ask, does this let my child experiment and learn from their mistakes? Is there more than one way for them to solve the problem? If you're thinking about like an app activity. So you can look for games with open-ended outcomes. So creation games, designing, building.
challenges and then content like if you're watching a TV show or a movie where characters are learning through trial and error and they're really mapping out how the character is managing mistakes and trying again and things.
Patricia Cangas (19:54.602)
Okay, I have a question like how to assess if a math game or a vocabulary game is good or bad. Like some games there's trial and error, but the user it just gets the feedback of whether it's right or wrong. So what are the characteristics of a game that actually teaches, right? Like what should we be looking for?
Charlotte Anne Wright (20:17.29)
Yeah, definitely. So ideally it wouldn't just say beep wrong or it would scaffold for the child. So give the child an extra support. So for example, especially with AI, like this is a wonderful use of how AI can be actually a really good thing. taking like adapting to the child's behavior. Like they keep struggling with equations kept up to 10.
Like how can the app should be scaffolding that to okay, let's start. They couldn't get five plus five. Let's start with five. Let's go back to five plus one and see. Or maybe add like if didn't already have before, like if it was just practicing the equation, maybe it adds visuals to help the child. Like, this is tricky. Let me add some scaffolding by adding some images to represent the quantities of the numeral. So things like that would show that the game is.
Yeah, scaffolding for the child and offering that extra support because yeah, it's five plus five and they get it wrong and then it just moves on. The child's not gonna understand. And that's a wonderful example of how it's really challenging for media to replace that interaction with an adult or someone who's supporting them. But again, another example of where AI, if used correctly, could be really supportive.
Patricia Cangas (21:33.986)
Yeah, a hundred percent. And I did ask the question because I read some research back a few years ago about the importance of feedback, just feedback on when getting the right or wrong answer and scaffolding, like adapting to the users in this case, children. Prior knowledge, knowledge in general, right? Like and not that many apps to that. It's amazing how many app in the app stores are their marks as educational and they don't adapt to the level of the user.
So they just keep going or just don't give feedback and it's right or wrong. And then when you don't get feedback about what you're doing wrong, then you start in the not minds on, so minds of trial and error. Like, if this didn't work and I didn't get feedback about this, about why, or it's not helping me s it's not cuffolding. then I just randomly try until I get it right because I want to start. So that's when the design of the app starts failing the purpose of learning, I think.
Charlotte Anne Wright (22:27.726)
Yeah, and I'm really hoping now that AI has become more accessible, that apps will become much more adaptive. I think a green flag is if as a parent you download the app and there's some sort of
questionnaire for you as a parent and or for your child, like an assessment. So you know so the app is taking that information about your child and at least the starting point is going to be starting relating to where they are. So that they don't have to do anything that's too easy or too hard, which exactly what you said, Patricia results in that like minds off. Like, well, this is too easy. So I'm just gonna press everything or this is too hard. So I'm just gonna guess and this isn't engaging for me.
Patricia Cangas (23:07.01)
Always engaging in the sense that you want that external exact motivation start and then purpose is lost of the learning, right? So yeah, I love this one.
Charlotte Anne Wright (23:14.68)
So it brings enjoyment and curiosity in a way that's motivating. So again, is my child wanting to come back to it for the right reasons? They're really inherently deeply curious, joyful playing it. they're it's not just rewards bringing them back. So you can look for content that makes your child laugh, wonder, ask questions, explore that intrinsic motivation we already spoke to, and a balance of fun and substance, so not empty entertainment. So joy is a little different from I know when we hear joy, we think like,
Happy, fun, but it's a little bit deeper than that. It's fulfilling. It's not just fun. There's some substance behind it.
Patricia Cangas (23:52.194)
So this is super helpful. So what are the common red flags? Things that look educational but really aren't supporting learning uplay.
Charlotte Anne Wright (24:01.368)
think it's a lot of what we've spoke to, like you see a lot of apps where there's yeah, that says it's educational and you click on it and you see like math equations and letters and you're like, Okay, that's great. My kids gonna learn their letters, gonna learn math. But I think a closer look
If there isn't that scaffolding. Yes, check to see. See what it does if your child gets something wrong. See what it does if your child gets something right. And if it does what we spoke about, where child click something wrong and it still advances them, I would say that's a red flag. And then these reward loops that we also spoke about. Experiences that are tied to coins, points, prizes. They really do
Especially for very young children, keep them focused on winning rather than motivating them to learn for the sake of what the experience really is. And then like constant simulation, like things like fast cuts or bright flashing graphics, loud sound effects, things that are grabbing attention but reduce the engagement. They're not really related to what the child is doing on their screen. They're just kind of like these fun extras that distract especially distract especially young children. And then endless tapping, like if the app.
is really just tapping things and if a child can do it mindlessly, that's a red flag too.
Patricia Cangas (25:15.912)
Okay, great. What about green flags? I mean, I understand that all the six points that you mentioned are green flags, but if you were to give just a few three to five or yeah, just a few ones, not necessarily three to five, but what would you advise parents to look for?
Charlotte Anne Wright (25:30.476)
Yeah. So I think a green flag that I love is that your kid wants to show you something or wants to ask you a question about it or tell you about it after. Like if they are looking to involve you, it means that they're genuinely engaged in it. it feels meaningful to them. That's inspiring social interaction because they want to share it with you. I think that's a a really big green flag. And I think that
adaptive quality we were talking about as well too like opportunities especially now again with AI like opportunities for you to personalize it to your child and for it to adapt to your child is a really big green flag. And again an easy way you can spot that is if when you're onboard is there an onboarding quiz. I know onboarding quiz can feel
Quizzes can feel like annoying and you just want to like give it to your child so you can go do the dishes. But if there's an onboarding quiz, it's showing that there's thought and that something's going to happen on the in back on the back end. some intelligence is there that's going to inform your child's experience in a way that will make it more personalized to that. I mean, the gold standard for instruction and schools is differentiated instruction. So this idea that the teacher should be
Providing different instruction for every child based off of their individual needs, their interests, their strengths. And that's really hard for a teacher. Teach all teachers do their best to do it. There's no excuse for technology not to do that, especially now. That's a big gap that technology can fill. And if it's not filling that, then or if it is filling that, then that's a great green flat. And then one last one that I want to share that kind of relates back to this.
Framing as, you know, or tag as educational expert back or research back that we see everywhere and you know, and ads. There's so many promises about what an app can do and statistics thrown out there. If you want to fact check that, again, it's more work for the already overworked parent, but you can go to these companies' websites and see do they have a team of learning experts?
Charlotte Anne Wright (27:32.078)
It's actually unfortunately rarer than you would think it is. do they have people who know kids on their staff? And do they have a section of their website with the research studies that they've done? Like, can you find these actual studies that they've done? Or did they just test it with five employees' kids, you know, which is helpful, but it's not the same as like a a study. I know my company, we've run studies with hundreds of kids before to be able to be honest about what our statistics are. So that's just kind of like an inside scoop.
I know that I've done, some friends have done, and it can be helpful. If that's really important to you, again, this if this feels like a lot of work, it's okay. Your kid's gonna be okay, but just another thing you can try if if you want.
Patricia Cangas (28:13.526)
Yeah, I love that one. And it is true that it's it requires time from the parents, but also it's rare to find educational apps or media that it's backed by research. It's really rare. I am one of the parents that looks for it. And I try to recommend those specific apps among, you know, the community. This is great. This is super specific. I love it. I hope the listeners are loving it too and taking notes. Let's go back to the social part of media, right? It's one of the hardest for
You know, like sometimes most of the times you just give media just because you need to do something, right? Even if you're not sitting right there with the children, what's one or two simple ways that can make the digital experience more interactive for the children? Even if if the parent is not there or the caregiver is not there, not sitting right next to them.
Charlotte Anne Wright (29:02.328)
So another framework I like to think about for like offline extensions parents can do that shouldn't take more than five minutes is ask, find, or make.
So for ask, you could ask your child to retell what happened and you could say what you could use the first next last language. Sequential language is something that young children specifically are working on. and it helps them build narrative skills and sequencing comprehension. So you could support them in retelling the story that way. If they're really young, like two or three, it could be more like fill in the blank and you could really support them, but just get them thinking about it after. And then find, and I think I mentioned this before, but you can
extend what the child is either seeing on the show or doing on the app into the real world. So for example, if the game or show was talking about colors, you can find something red like the characters did on the TV show or find something that floats or something that sinks. So little things like that, like a very short, easy scavenger hunt. Just help them see like, yeah, I learned that character was talking about red and yeah, there's red all around me. You know, little kids, you'd be surprised by how little it can
take to like to help them transfer that knowledge and for it to be meaningful. And then last make and this can be a little bit more involved than the other two, but help them recreate or extend something from the content that they were engaging in using simple materials. So and that could just be an invitation. So you don't even have to sit there with them. You can put out materials that are similar to what was on the TV show in their play area if you have one or on the table.
And then see what they do. And then you can kind of just provide casual like, that reminds me of what Daniel Tiger was doing. What do you think? just provide like a little bit of voiceover.
Patricia Cangas (30:48.846)
Yeah, Love It. Can you repeat again the three frameworks?
Charlotte Anne Wright (30:53.166)
Yeah, so ask, so ask them to retell, find, so just little scavenger hunts related to concepts, or make, so recreate or extend something, build something that relates to the content.
Patricia Cangas (31:06.306)
I love it. It's hard to keep it on mind, but I love it.
Charlotte Anne Wright (31:09.004)
You can find the products that I'm working on at beginlearning.com. That's the company that I work for. If you are interested in the research that I spoke about with Lego Foundation and some of the other research studies I've done, I've I've done some studies with Sesame Workshop as well. You can actually search my name Charlotte and Wright on Google and I checked a lot of my studies do come up and my Google Scholar account comes up if you're interested in diving into that research a little bit further. And it's also all on my LinkedIn, so you can feel free to follow me on LinkedIn.
connect there and I'm always happy to answer any questions or share any resources.
Patricia Cangas (31:43.416)
Thank you. This is great. And thank you so much. It's been awesome. I hope it's it was helpful for the listeners and thank you for all the work you do. It's so important and we need much more people doing it. So thank you.
Charlotte Anne Wright (31:54.83)
Thank you, thank you. Well I feel very lucky that I get to do it and I try to be the voice for parents and for kids. I know it's hard for parents, especially right now, but just a reminder you're doing great and it's okay. Sometimes you just have to put your kid in front of the TV and get something done and that matters too. Your mental health matters just as much. So that's a message for parents too.
Patricia Cangas (32:15.232)
Anything you wanna add or for parents or any hope in the future or anything else you wanna send?
Charlotte Anne Wright (32:22.094)
I hope that parents can I hope that there can be less guilt around screen time for parents. I feel it's become incredibly overwhelming and confusing and it feels like a whole extra job to parenting, right? At a time where a lot of parents are working more than ever. So
My hope is that parents can kind of try to take some of that guilt off and know that it's really hard. It's not just you. It's really hard. There's so much out there and it's not clear. And there's a lot of us who are fighting for legislation and regulation. So you don't have to do as much guesswork and as much digging as you do now. So just know that there are people who are fighting for policies to to make things easier, especially with the onset of AI. But I just want to
Give kudos to parents right now, especially parents of young children. I mean parents of all children. It's hard at every age in terms of different types of media that comes into play. But you're doing great. And yeah, go easy on yourself.
Patricia Cangas (33:21.162)
It was great and we're gonna end this episode. Thank you so much.
Charlotte Anne Wright (33:24.248)
Thank you so much. So happy to be here.
Patricia Cangas (33:28.93)
Before we wrap up, here are two takeaways from today's conversation. First, the six play for learning qualities to look for in kids media, and second, a simple offline rhythm as find or make that you can use today at home. Links to Charlotte's research and work are in the show notes, and you can also find her on LinkedIn and follow her. Finally, if you're a parent of kids 6 to 17, or short survey on AI for learning is in the show notes too. If you like this episode, share with another parent.
Follow or subscribe so you don't miss what's next. Thanks for listening.
