Parents write book advising about dangers of online world

Two authors – David Boyle and Judith Hodge, both parents from Steyning – have teamed up to help parents who feel they have been left ‘abandoned’ in a fight against the online world.

Their new book, entitled Techno Tantrums: Ten Strategies for Coping With Your Children’s Time Online, aims to advise parents so that children can avoid addiction to the online world.

David said: “This book argues that parents have been abandoned to deal with the lure of the online world, the games and social media, with advice about safety but no other support. This is a guide to help navigate the research and pitfalls, written by parents for parents.

“They face the sheer power of the internet companies all by themselves, fighting for influence over their children’s minds.

“Schools and governments alike encourage children to spend their lives online, yet many of the internet founders themselves – including Steve Jobs himself – rigorously restricted their own children’s online access time.

“This isn’t a guide to online safety, which is well-covered elsewhere. It is a guide to online obsession.

“It helps navigate research, some of it alarming, some of it reassuring, with clarity and sanity, to help parents find a way through – so that children can avoid addiction, enjoy the world around them, but also enjoy themselves online.”

David said he was inspired to write the book because ‘so little’ has been written about how to deal with children’s demands for gaming or social media time.

He added: “It struck both of us that there was a need for a book like this, written by parents.

“(There is) a great deal of outside pressure from corporate advertising, from friends and from schools, to spend more and more time online.

“We noticed that parents were left very much alone to cope with these pressures.”

The new book is due to published on Monday, July 24 – just in time for the school summer holidays.

Kindle and eBook copies are valued at £1.99 while print copies are £5.25.

If you would like a copy, please visit www.therealpress.co.uk.