Last week, I posted about my journey of Becoming More Tech-Wise as a Parent and Leader. One of the best books I read in 2017, was in this regard – The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology In Its Place by Andy Crouch. The social experiment that is kids with constant social media and technology, continues to demonstrate extremely negative outcomes for families, mental health, faith development, etc. Crouch’s book was breath of fresh air to this parent who is trying to figure out how to guide our kids and families through these modern mine fields. The chapters build out the covenant or commitments of a tech-wise family. Families are encouraged to build out your own covenant or commitments as well. What would these commitments look like for your family?

The Ten Tech Wise Commitments:

1. We develop wisdom and courage together as a family.

2. We want to create more than we consume. So we fill the center of our home with things that reward skill and active engagement.

3. We are designed for a rhythm of work and rest. So one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year, we turn off our devices and worship, feast, play and rest together.

4. We wake up before our devices do, and they “go to bed” before we do.

5. We aim for “no screens before double digits” (age of 10) at school and at home.

6. We use screens for a purpose, and we use them together, rather than using them aimlessly and alone.

7. Car time is conversation time.

8. Spouses have one another’s passwords, and parents have total access to children’s devices.

9. We learn to sing together, rather than letting recorded and amplified music take over our lives and worship.

10. We show up in person for the big events of life. We learn how to be human by being fully present at our moments of greatest vulnerability. We hope to die in one another’s arms.

This book, plus our own hard lessons have led our family to make some adjustments along the way with technology. What rules or guidelines or commitments, if any, do you or your family exercise regarding technology?