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Instruction Discussion
Alternatives To Screens
00:27:53
Over the past year the search term "how to reduce screen time" is up more than 900%. As such, Kevin Boston-Hill provides some alternatives that parents can explore to get their children to put their phones and tablets down. First, he speaks with Past...
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Announcer
Welcome to Instruction Discussion, our weekly look
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Suzy Whaley
at the latest topics and trends in education affecting schools here on Long island
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Announcer
and schools around the world. Whether you're a teacher, parent or student,
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Suzy Whaley
listen for tips and strategies to help you navigate the educational landscape. There's a bell.
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Announcer
It's time to start today's Instruction discussion
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Suzy Whaley
on the voice of Nassau Community College, 90.3 WHPC.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Hello, I'm Kevin Boston Hill, and welcome to Instruction Discussion where each week we will examine recent trend or development in education and its impact on Long Island. The effort to get students to put down their screens is nothing new. The culprit used to be the television, then it was the computer or game console, and now it is the phone or tablet. Parents are always looking for options to present to their children to have them put their devices down and get some good old fashioned physical exercise. Enter a program called Golf with us from bank of America, which is helping make the sport of golf more affordable by offering young golfers access to discounted tee times at courses across the country. To further explain the benefits and access to the program, we welcome past president of the PGA of America and member of the U.S. golf association executive committee, Suzy Whaley. Ms. Whaley, welcome to instruction discussion on 90.3 WHPC.
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Suzy Whaley
Thanks, Kevin. It's a pleasure to be here.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Well, thank you for carving out some time in your. What's undoubtedly a busy schedule getting all this up and going across the country. So we thank you for being here with us to explain this wonderful, beneficial program.
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Suzy Whaley
Yeah, I'm excited to partner with bank of America to support golf with us and thrilled to share the details about it with your audience today.
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Kevin Boston Hill
So I understand that over the last few years, I guess the last almost nine or 10 years, that participation among youth in golf has really spiked. Almost gone up 40, 45% over the. Over that time period. What. What do you think Will explains that jump.
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Suzy Whaley
Yeah, I think there's a lot of factors that you hit on some in your opening. Just about families looking for opportunities to be away from screens. Certainly that's one of them. But I also think since COVID families were looking for an outlet for their children when they couldn't go to sanctioned sporting activities. Golf was open and golf was an opportunity where they could go to the range and maybe try this sport that they'd never tried before. And many of them fell in love with it and became addicted to it. I think celebrities and actors are loving the game, which certainly youth are attracted to watching on their Instagrams and on YouTube. I think the Game has become more stylish and cooler, quite candidly, over the course of the last 10 years. And children are noticing that. But more so it's just the opportunity for families to be together, to be in an outdoor environment, to have the challenges that golf presents, to learn life skills. And people have found that golf can be that refuge.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Yeah, I mean, you mentioned about the whole Covid era and so forth. There were very few sports that people could play and be socially distanced. And we know tennis being one and of course, golf being another. And you also mentioned about the popularity from celebrities and athletes, other athletes going into sports. We always hear about the. When athletes are in their off season, that they're going to the golf course or when they're not playing, when they're not playing basketball, they're going. We see Steph Curry all over the golf course and everything. So he probably helped to spur that, that excitement. So let me ask you, because I know that I usually liken or compare golf to chess, like chess on grass, basically. And so when we think of it in those terms, because of the strategy that's. That's involved in it, are there any, I guess, lessons or resources that are offered either by bank of America or even by a PGA that would kind of explore the use of math and science in golf?
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Suzy Whaley
Oh, yeah. I absolutely love what you just said. You know, I'm a coach at heart and I always make that same reference because I tell people when they're learning the game, they're learning how to hit the golf ball. And when they get on the golf course, it becomes a series of hits. As they improve, they realize very quickly that it's a series of moves. And to your point, just like chess, you're strategizing based obviously on your power. The tee box you're using, where the whole location is what the data says about where to hit the golf ball on the green to have your best case scenario to make par. And now in golf, we have tremendous technology that helps do that. We have arcos, which is a company that tracks all your shots and collects your statistics and your data. We have shot link that the PGA Tour has access to. We can follow every single shot by satellite for the players. As far as those that are learning the game. The PGA of America and the USGA both have programs through PGA Professionals and LPGA Professionals to help youth learn that and to help youth learn how to use the data in a way that is beneficial to the sport and their scores versus just being on their phone, looking at texts or, or looking at emails, I always tell people, while we say golf can be a screenless sport, it can also have a deep amount of technology embedded within it, which makes it really exciting and fun. And the data you see now for shots gained, for example, Mark Brody, you'll hear if you watch golf on television, you hear us talk about strokes gained all the time. It's really become that data point to help the best players in the world improve their weaknesses and know where they stand amongst others. The handicap system for the USGA is similar to that. And each person that plays the game can get a gin number which they allows them to post their scores. And then they can track their success based on where their goals are and what their handicap is and if they can lower it as they desire. So a lengthy answer to your question, but the opportunity is there for as much tech as you want within the game or as little tech as you want within the game.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Excellent, Excellent. So talk to us a little bit about this Golf with Us program. And how did bank of America get involved?
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Suzy Whaley
Yeah, so bank of America got involved. They wanted to do something within the game that allowed youth to not only have access and opportunity, but to get clubs in their hands. So, for example, not just talking about the sport, but them actually participating within the sport alongside PGA Professionals, Tour players, LPGA Tour players that they've been introduced to. And there's free enrollment right now, which is open through June 15th at BofA.com golf with us. And this is a program that is free to register and allows youth to participate at local courses that are involved with the nonprofit Youth on course for $5. It also allows them for $5 to to a local dicks and play on a simulator where they can see all the tech we just talked about and play golf inside at Golf Galaxy, where they can see all the tech in simulators for $5. And what makes this program so special is the fact that not only are they offering instruction opportunities for youth, but on course or in those simulators is where I believe children fall in love with the game. And to be able to get your child on course for $5. I've been involved in so many programs throughout my career, but this is one of the best. 180,000 children have already signed up for it. And it is something that is truly growing the game.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Now, to participate, do they need to have their own set of clubs or can they get those at the courses that they go to? I'm sure at the simulators they have, they have clubs there that they can utilize, but when they Go out to the course itself. Do they need to bring their own clubs? And, and if so, is there an opportunity for them to maybe perhaps purchase or get a discount on the purchase of clubs?
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Suzy Whaley
Yeah, that would be through each of those local courses. Many of the courses that participate have rentals for the kids at a very low rate, if not free. I would suggest to the families to call in advance and just ask those questions. The simulators, to your point, will have that equipment available for them. All they really need is a pair of sneakers.
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Kevin Boston Hill
It's not uncommon to see students sitting next to each other, you know, engaged in a full text conversation, like they're texting each other, but they're sitting right next to each other at the same time. So yes. So how does this environment of golf, I guess more importantly the etiquette of golf, helps students build those face to face social skills?
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Suzy Whaley
Yeah, you're going to see adults on course, obviously with phones in hand, maybe doing business, But I would tell you the majority of people that play the game choose not to. The majority of the people that play the game keep the phone in the bag. Obviously it's there for something, emergency, whatever, so be it. But there isn't this dynamic of I'm going to carry my clubs or push my pull card and text at the same time and try to find my golf ball and keep pace. Right. Or have a conversation. And it really bodes well because those that have been playing the game typically will engage in conversation well before they'll pull out a phone. And so the example that's set is one away from screen. The example that is set is one, that this is a game of etiquette. This is a game of honesty and integrity. This is a game where you are in charge of calling yourself out on a rules infraction, on keeping your own score. And it's difficult. As you mentioned earlier, you are playing chess. There isn't a whole lot of time between shots for you to try to navigate to get your best score. You need to be ready when it's your turn. You need to have club in hand when it's your turn. All things that children will learn, they won't know directly as they first get there, but they'll realize very quickly that that phone pretty much stays in the bag until they need a ride to get home.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Exactly, exactly. Now this question is really, I guess, more so for me, but I'm sure there'll be a few other listeners whom have the similar question. But what's the difference between irons and woods?
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Suzy Whaley
Yeah, so your irons are shorter in length. And, you know, many people think they need 14 clubs. The USGA Rules of Golf says you can have 14 clubs. When you're starting the game, you certainly don't need 14 clubs. But I would say that, you know, the shorter irons, if you think about it this way, the shorter club are always the highest numbers. So 9, 8, 7 are much shorter than, for example, your 5 and your 4 iron. Those are longer. An iron is played, it has a head on it that looks much slimmer than what we call fairway metals, or fairway woods, as they used to be called, because they were made out of wood. They're no longer made out of wood. So when those of us that talk about golf say fairway medals, those that have been playing a long time are like, what are you talking about? They're called the fairway woods, but those are longer. And so, for example, on a long yardage hole, you know, you want to learn how to hit that longer club off the tee because the ball itself will, generally speaking, go farther. The shorter the club, the shorter the arc. The apex goes higher because the loft of the club head is higher. And. And then you can manage your distances. So as you learn the game and get better at it, you will be one of those people who say, okay, I'm 100 yards. I'm going to use this club from 100 yards. And that varies from player to player, depending on their height, athleticism, skill, experience. So there's no right or wrong there. It's just fun. That's a whole nother nuance to the game. When you're learning to manage your game is to manage your equipment.
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Kevin Boston Hill
And I know you have to run, but just give us one more time. How can parents get access to this information to be able to get their children involved in this program?
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Suzy Whaley
So free enrollment is open through June 15, and that's@bofa.com golf with us.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Excellent. Excellent. So again, Ms. Susie Whaley, past president of the PGA of America and member of the U.S. golf association executive Committee, thank you. Thank you so much for coming onto our show today.
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Suzy Whaley
It's my pleasure. I hope to see lots of people on course.
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Kevin Boston Hill
I'm sure you will. And thank you again, and enjoy the rest of your day.
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Suzy Whaley
You too.
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Kevin Boston Hill
You are listening to instruction discussion on the Voice of Nassau Community College, 90.3 WHPC. My name is Kevin Boston Hill, and as we continue the ongoing conversation about things we can do to limit screen time among our students, especially during the summer months, we turn to Google Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health, Dr. Garth Graham. Dr. Graham, thank you for continuing this conversation and to really be our guides for the most part and share your expertise in this area.
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Dr. Garth Graham
Thank you for having me. It's something I care deeply about and I get the pleasure of working on it every day.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Great, great. So I saw that the research has shown that over the last year that search interest in how to reduce screen time has gone up more than like 900% over the previous year. So what are some tips that you can share that will help our parents? Because obviously they are, they're looking for it. So what tips can you share to help our parents manage their screen time?
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Dr. Garth Graham
Yeah, and I'll tell you, you know, as not just as a doctor and somebody working on this, but I'm a parent too. So this is something that I go through every day just like many other parents. So there are a couple of things that we pull from the research that are really important. So the first thing is this idea of co viewing and understanding and talking to your kids. It's something that we often forget, but it's really important to talk openly and watch together so you have an understanding of what your kids online experience is like and you help them. The American Academy of Pediatrics talks about this idea. Again, co viewing helps them to develop co attention and you help them navigate some of those experiences as well. But the second thing that's really important is this idea of agreeing on the rules and using the tools so you know, sitting down and having a family plan that give the kids a voice in the rules, that make them more likely to stick to these rules and then come up with the kind of screen time limits and the kinds of things that you think are important for your family and then automate them. Use technology to be the enforcer for you. You know, set the parental controls, agree on it and then have the technology accomplish those goals for you. And that really important because it helps to take you out of the loop in general. We have a lot of those on YouTube, a lot of Google in the YouTube app and in the family link on Google. Then the last thing I would say, let me actually tell you a little bit about some of those tools because it's important for instance for Android users. For Google we've made it now that in parents just go into Android settings and you can set the daily screen time limits you want for your kids. You can create downtime schedules, can control what kind of apps you want them to use. You can say which apps you don't want them to use all of these kinds of things that give them experience. And so it's really important for parents to try to automate these tools, automate the experience so that you're not going back and forth with your kids on it. The technology kicks in and takes care of it for you.
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Kevin Boston Hill
No, you know, I'm glad that, and I'm an Apple user myself, so I know we've had, Apple has had those types of things for a while because I've actually set those screen time limits for my children who also have Apple devices. So it's good that Android has finally got caught up with the times and everything. Not that I'm bashing Android or anything, but, but it's, but it again, we look at technology and especially when you talk about AI as the wild west. And so when, when every, whenever you can get all these corporations and companies that are dealing with technology to kind of be on the same page, so to speak, it's always going to be a good thing.
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Suzy Whaley
Yeah.
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Dr. Garth Graham
And you know, one of the things I would say is technology is a part of the lives that our kids, we are facing now, but even more, our kids are going to be living. So the question is, how do you help them navigate in the digital world, not from the digital world, so that they can extract all the benefits of technology to help make their lives better. I know that's what I want for my own kids. So I really look at it as how can we create safer technological experiences so kids can get all the learning, education and all those kinds of things that help them become more efficient and smarter than us?
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Kevin Boston Hill
Now pretty much since the dawn of social media, the focus has really been on social media's effects on teenagers and young adults. But now we've started to see more of a shift towards that impact on younger children. So from a clinical perspective, from your expertise, why is it important to limit screen time among our younger children?
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Dr. Garth Graham
Yeah, so there's a couple of things you always want to do. You want your kids to have age appropriate experiences online. So you want a 7 year old to have a 7 year old experience, an 11 year old to 11 experience, a 13 year old have a 13 year old experience. And it's one of the things that we've worked a lot on here at Google and YouTube is developing these specific age appropriate experiences, the content settings and the things that allow children to have that experience. And why is that kind of important is, you know, you have your frontal lobe that's developing as you are, as you are as a child. Is growing and then allowing the frontal lobe to have those kinds of experiences that are proactive in its developments is particularly important. So again, we talk a lot about age appropriate experiences and learning. One of the things, Kevin, I'll just say on this too, is going back to this idea of intentional viewing. Again, I do this a lot at home is, you know, I sometimes I can't even find my wallet. But my son, you know, will teach me about. He's just teaching me about all those things about Jakarta and Indonesian experiences and things that he's experienced by experiencing them through the video and the power of technology. When I see that, I look back at my life growing up and his life and I go, that's how things get transformative. He's able to see and live and understand things that now as an adult I can visit but I wouldn't have been able to grow into as a kid. We have to think through again, how do we create those online experiences that allow both brain development, positive life experiences so that our kids, like I often just say, just so that they continue to, to be better than we are.
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Kevin Boston Hill
So since we're talking about that, because like you said, growing up, when I was growing up, obviously we didn't have these phones and everything. We didn't have computers that are in our hands. When we wanted to learn something, we had to go to the library, pull out the card catalog, go through the decimal system and all that kind of thing. So how can these tools, again, the computers in their hands and the AI tools, how can they be used in a positive way to help learning loss? We're going into the summer months now and we want to make sure that students don't get that summer slide where they kind of go backwards in their academics. So how can these tools help?
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Dr. Garth Graham
Very important. Yeah, very important concept. Because there is a world of educational information that kids have access to. Now. Over 74% of kids around the world use YouTube as part of their kind of education learning journey around math in science, et cetera. So we know that the tools can help the things that parents we have to do, and I struggle and work on this at home myself, is we have to engage and understand the content and drive our kids along with our systems that we use to drive our kids in this direction towards the kinds of experiences that again, are entertaining, but also having them understand the education and unlearning experience. The other day, my son was quoting to me Nick's stats the other day that just went into many, many, many years. I was thinking to myself, I Would have never known that. And you know, what he's developing, and then he was talking about the business model of basketball and all these kinds of things, and I was just like, you know, he's understanding things at 13 that I understood when I was 27. And so, you know, we can. It's important for us, again, to have the systems be able to deliver the information to kids that allow them to be more advanced. But again, the question here is, I'm sorry, the thing here is balance. So we want to make it balanced. We want to emphasize safety. Just like for you and I when we were growing up, you know, our moms and our grandparents used to, you know, talk about stranger danger and the kinds of things we navigate on in the real world. So understanding and teaching our kids, that is important as well.
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Announcer
Yeah.
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Kevin Boston Hill
And I think also equally important is because in growing up, we didn't have all these tablets and phones and look at. But we did have the television. And that's why we called it the idiot box, because we sit in front of the TV all day and then we just kind of dumbing ourselves down and almost going fast forward now, almost. That same type of mentality is happening now with these tablets. You're kind of dumbing yourself down because you're allowing the tablet to do everything for you. What can we. I guess it goes back to that conversation then. What can we do to help limit the amount of time that students are actually having on their devices? I know we were told, look, you have to be outside. Like, there's no. I remember being actually being locked out of my house, like, on purpose, because, like, no, you're going to be outside and play. Do we, do we have to go back and doing things like that with our students?
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Dr. Garth Graham
Well, you know, I think there are a couple of things we should do. We always want to engage kids in our. In the conversations about kinds of things that impact them. So that's why this conversation about setting up a family plan is really important. And we have to have them understand to help develop, continue to develop critical thinking. That's really important and critical assessment. And so that's why the idea of looking at the information they're engaging with together helps them develop that and then help them transition into the offline world. Real world experiences, relationships, bonds, all of that is important. Ken, one of the things that is kind of interesting about this next generation or this current generation is the offline and online world. STEM is all one blended world. They don't think of it like how you. You and I may Be like, well, remember those days when you're online and then now you've got it's just friends communicates all, it's all one the same. So you want to live in their world with them and then allow shape their experiences so that they can gain all of those positive moments. But here is the thing that I often just said, as I said before, you know, they're technology first kids and they understand technology. And so the thing is, how do you have them and grasp all of those concepts that allow them to become better human beings while navigating all of the challenges and dangers as well?
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Kevin Boston Hill
So now that we talked about those challenges, those dangers, and we even talked a little bit about the mental health, what are some resources that are available that can help families learn more about the mental health impacts? Because we know we're just getting that data from COVID from the impacts that the COVID time had on children. So where can families go to get more of that information about the mental health impacts? Yeah.
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Dr. Garth Graham
So I would Google two documents that are helpful to families navigate. One is a document we put out with the American Psychiatric association, if they google a healthy viewing teen guide. And what will come up is that's a guide that was produced by the American Psychological association that really teaches families about, again, how to extract the positives from viewing and then the kind of things to look out for, just like you would in the real world. So Healthy viewing is particularly important. And so, you know, I refer back to a lot of these clinical resources because a lot of these organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and others just, you can just Google it, they put these resources out for, for parents and it's important they articulate them in ways that us as parents can understand. And I think that's really important as well. So I think it's important to do that. But Kevin, one of the things I wouldn't want our listeners to forget is you mentioned how you set up those tools for your own families. That part is really important. So again, engaging, going in over, opening up your phone, going into settings, going into Family Link, going into the YouTube app and going to these resources. There's so much to do that, you know, really becoming familiar with that as a parent is particularly important.
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Kevin Boston Hill
So if you had, in the Next, I guess 10 to 15 seconds, if you had one final piece of advice for parents on how they can limit the screen time for their students, what would that be?
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Dr. Garth Graham
Yeah, I would say talk to them, set up the time, automate the time that you want so that it's not enforced by you and make sure that the time that you're spending online is positive. So developing intentional viewing is really important and I think that's a part of helping them develop those online skills and life skills.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Wow. Well, this has been a very important conversation and we would certainly like to thank our guests today, Google Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health, Dr. Garth Graham, for coming onto our show.
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Dr. Garth Graham
Thank you for having me.
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Kevin Boston Hill
Once again, my name is Kevin Boston Hill and thank you all for listening to Instruction discussion right here on the Voice of Nassau Community College. 90.3 WHPC.
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