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Generation Text: Raising Well-Adjusted Kids in an Age of Instant Everything
For today’s kids, technology such as computers, the Internet, cell phones, and satellites is an assumed presence. Between texting, e-mail, gaming, instant-messaging, and online commerce, their world is one of constant electronic interaction through which they have almost instant access to everything from information to merchandise to other people. In this culture of instant gratification and potential excess, parenting has become a bigger challenge than ever. Generation Text examines the ways in which children's identities are shaped by the world around them…and how, with an absence of meaningful barriers between impulse and the ability to act on them, parents can help children learn to make intelligent choices and manage the potential overload successfully. Dr. Michael Osit, has worked with children and teens for more than thirty years, and has helped families challenged by the new order of access and excess—and the temptations and dangers that go with it. His advice will help you help your children develop key social skills, a healthy identity, and a sense of purpose and accountability. Generation Text provides the sage advice and proven parenting strategies for raising confident, happy, and safe kids who will be fully equipped for their future.
9 pages, Audio CD
First published June 1, 2008
About the author
Michael Osit
4 booksAs a practicing psychologist and national speaker with over 40 years experience, Dr. Osit provides consultation, assessment, and psychotherapy for children, adolescents, families, couples and adults. Dr. Osit is a dynamic and frequent presenter on a wide variety of topics for professionals, parents, schools, and agencies. He has participated in training psychologists and physicians through teaching and clinical supervision. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Osit is the author of “Generation Text: Raising Well-Adjusted Kids In An Age Of Instant Everything,” (Amacom, 2008), awarded “Best Book of the Year” by Instructor Magazine, June 2008, and is one of 5 finalists out of 440 books reviewed in the 13th Annual Books For Life Awards in the category of Parenting. He also authors a column entitled, “Mind The Mind” appearing in a bi-monthly publication called Connections2, and is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post Lifestyle/Parenting section. His latest book, “The Train Keeps Leaving Without Me: A Practical Guide To Happiness, Freedom, And Self-Fulfillment (CreateSpace, 2016) is a manual for living a happy life. Dr. Osit has a strong media presence, appearing on numerous national and local television, podcast, and radio programs, and is frequently interviewed for national magazines such as Parent, Parenting, Women’s Day, Better Homes & Gardens, Self, and Parade, to name a few.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 5, 2010
A decent book about raising kids in the digital age. It was good inspiration to stick to my guns in our family's quest to avoid too much digital info for our kids -- from nasty video games to internet traps. A reminder to get your kids to slow down and not expect instant gratification for everything! His "real life" examples of family issues with technology are somewhat extreme -- the parents are clueless. It made us look good!
May 4, 2017
My dad recently read this and insistently recommended it to me, acknowledging that it's already out of date. So far, I find it fairly interesting, although I thought the introduction could have been pruned down without much loss.
Notes so far:
Ch. 1 -- I dislike the example of sushi in "modeling down." I know people who introduce their kids to sushi. I think it's great if kids develop good taste in food at a young age and I don't think it compares well to more serious issues of modeling down like allowing children access to information they're not prepared to handle. I know is a fairly harmless example, but I also thought it was stupid and ineffective in getting the point across.
Ch 2 -- I liked the suggestions to encourage uniqueness as a positive desirable trait to help kids resist the materialistic "stuff" race that is so seductive. (I think my dad was always SUPER good at that.) I also like the suggestion to discuss financial decisions with kids from time to time -- why or why not to make a purchase. I like the suggestion to engage in social referencing by discussing popular culture with them and their perceptions, thoughts, experiences and how they relate. (I think my mom was really, really good at this.) Also, I like the discussion of how we are aging our children up by allowing them to acquire things and experience rites of passage prematurely.
Ch. 2 (more) -- I like the comparison of a child to a landscape and the parents to the landscape architects, working with the strengths and limitations that are present in the environment. I liked the concept of "cognitive restructuring" so that you could acknowledge a child's feelings but reframe a situation to expand the child's perspective (eg. regarding authority figures)
Ch. 4 -- discussed here the concept of delayed gratification as a muscle that must be strengthened. Also talked about making the parents' relationship and needs a priority and not just the kids' desires and wants. As a Mormon, I have a special appreciation for his version of family council.
Ch. 5 -- I see things here I could work on, for example, asking my kids open-ended questions to lead discussions on interactions we see or they tell new about or that I share with them. I like the distinction in this chapter between being aggressive, passive, and assertive -- I would like to do better at promoting their abilities to be assertive. I also appreciated this statement near the end of the chapter "While some kids seem to acquire empathy naturally, this is the exception rather than the rule." I know teaching empathy is something I'd like to work on as a parent.
Ch. 6 -- I liked that he discusses how different parenting styles are better for different kids; I haven't infrequently heard one touted as the ONE, but since I believe there are a lot of ways to be a good parent I buy his philosophy more. In this chapter he discusses being consistent; I think I could do better at this. I really like the discussion on teaching kids to make decisions early -- giving them chances to practice and ways to counsel them through a decision when they're struggling. I liked the discussion of time management too, specifically helping kids do it by planning with them and keeping a calendar.
Ch. 7 -- I like the section on communication: the emphasis on asking kids what they think about things instead of lecturing and responding by recognizing their emotions rather than being reactive to their words. Our church encourages family meetings (though they term them family councils), but I like the addition of a place to record items of concern (the agenda) for all family members leading up to the meeting.
In summary, I thought this book was interesting. I feel that his clients were primarily five to fifteen years younger than I am, and that things have shifted for better or worse quite a bit since that time. Also, his clients were primarily much wealthier (and/or possibly stupider?) than most people I know. When he's talking about getting kids all the newest gadgets the moment they come out and upgrading to the newest version as much as every eighteen months, I can't relate to that. But then I don't have teenagers yet. My dad said he was surprised by the way sex and media are intermixing, and I wasn't that shocked by that, but possibly because I've seen quite a number of TED Talks on the subject recently and read quite a number of articles on it. However, overall, I found some interesting points and some reminders useful. It took me too long to read, though, and I am glad I finished it. It was a bit of a drag. Also, I would love to know what happened to that hard-working girl he mentioned near the end of the book who was raised by her grandmother and had less access to technology than most of his clients, because his predictions were rather dire and my guess is that she turned out just fine and probably even thrived! ;)
Notes so far:
Ch. 1 -- I dislike the example of sushi in "modeling down." I know people who introduce their kids to sushi. I think it's great if kids develop good taste in food at a young age and I don't think it compares well to more serious issues of modeling down like allowing children access to information they're not prepared to handle. I know is a fairly harmless example, but I also thought it was stupid and ineffective in getting the point across.
Ch 2 -- I liked the suggestions to encourage uniqueness as a positive desirable trait to help kids resist the materialistic "stuff" race that is so seductive. (I think my dad was always SUPER good at that.) I also like the suggestion to discuss financial decisions with kids from time to time -- why or why not to make a purchase. I like the suggestion to engage in social referencing by discussing popular culture with them and their perceptions, thoughts, experiences and how they relate. (I think my mom was really, really good at this.) Also, I like the discussion of how we are aging our children up by allowing them to acquire things and experience rites of passage prematurely.
Ch. 2 (more) -- I like the comparison of a child to a landscape and the parents to the landscape architects, working with the strengths and limitations that are present in the environment. I liked the concept of "cognitive restructuring" so that you could acknowledge a child's feelings but reframe a situation to expand the child's perspective (eg. regarding authority figures)
Ch. 4 -- discussed here the concept of delayed gratification as a muscle that must be strengthened. Also talked about making the parents' relationship and needs a priority and not just the kids' desires and wants. As a Mormon, I have a special appreciation for his version of family council.
Ch. 5 -- I see things here I could work on, for example, asking my kids open-ended questions to lead discussions on interactions we see or they tell new about or that I share with them. I like the distinction in this chapter between being aggressive, passive, and assertive -- I would like to do better at promoting their abilities to be assertive. I also appreciated this statement near the end of the chapter "While some kids seem to acquire empathy naturally, this is the exception rather than the rule." I know teaching empathy is something I'd like to work on as a parent.
Ch. 6 -- I liked that he discusses how different parenting styles are better for different kids; I haven't infrequently heard one touted as the ONE, but since I believe there are a lot of ways to be a good parent I buy his philosophy more. In this chapter he discusses being consistent; I think I could do better at this. I really like the discussion on teaching kids to make decisions early -- giving them chances to practice and ways to counsel them through a decision when they're struggling. I liked the discussion of time management too, specifically helping kids do it by planning with them and keeping a calendar.
Ch. 7 -- I like the section on communication: the emphasis on asking kids what they think about things instead of lecturing and responding by recognizing their emotions rather than being reactive to their words. Our church encourages family meetings (though they term them family councils), but I like the addition of a place to record items of concern (the agenda) for all family members leading up to the meeting.
In summary, I thought this book was interesting. I feel that his clients were primarily five to fifteen years younger than I am, and that things have shifted for better or worse quite a bit since that time. Also, his clients were primarily much wealthier (and/or possibly stupider?) than most people I know. When he's talking about getting kids all the newest gadgets the moment they come out and upgrading to the newest version as much as every eighteen months, I can't relate to that. But then I don't have teenagers yet. My dad said he was surprised by the way sex and media are intermixing, and I wasn't that shocked by that, but possibly because I've seen quite a number of TED Talks on the subject recently and read quite a number of articles on it. However, overall, I found some interesting points and some reminders useful. It took me too long to read, though, and I am glad I finished it. It was a bit of a drag. Also, I would love to know what happened to that hard-working girl he mentioned near the end of the book who was raised by her grandmother and had less access to technology than most of his clients, because his predictions were rather dire and my guess is that she turned out just fine and probably even thrived! ;)
December 14, 2019
Ok, boomer. Common sense recommendations paired with an extremely negative and generalized view of how families are navigating today’s social and cultural conditions. Presents a ridiculously rosy view of how things used to be (Ozzy and Harriet references? Really?) while castigating parents for not being perfectly and quickly able to adapt to a tech-heavy world. No thanks. I prefer my common sense recommendations without a side dish of judgement and pearl-clutching.
September 11, 2008
You know...can't put my finger on why this book was a disappointment. I think I was hoping for a genuine discussion of technology's impact on kids - beyond the obvious. Instead, this book was more about how to manage that impact. Which is also valuable in its own way, but I don't think really gave me any new insight.
A general problem I have with many of this type of parenting book is that they don't go beyond the very obvious. They seem to assume a level of pathology that has driven you to this book and then they go about giving you steps to fix that - mostly commen-sense stuff. And while I do believe that we can all use a good dose of common-sense now and again, I was hoping for a broader discussion of societal issues and impacts rather than "you have to teach your kids how to wait for things."
There was also a lot of exaggeration for effect in this book. And the author based virtually all of his anecdotes on his experience with his own patients - kids who had come to him for help managing their lives, not necessarily "typical" kids. And the examples he gives frequently didn't ring true to me - are parents out there really as clueless as he gives them credit for? Perhaps I am naive, but I like to think most of us are trying a bit harder than he imagines.
What I did agree with was his assessment that too much of our interaction with our kids is guilt-driven - that we never seem to think that we're doing enough for them, and that we are always trying to make up for some of our deficiencies. We also tend to have very child-focused families, which isn't healthy either.
Finally, near the end of the book, he used an example of a girl of limited financial means, living in a more affluent community. He bemoans the difficulty she has without her own computer. She uses the library and doesn't even have an email address! (Which is ridiculous and shows how little this doctor even knows, since free email accounts through the web are hardly difficult to come by) She has a cell phone, but - oh the horror! she can't even text with it. He really seems to condemn this girl to some sort of unsatisfying life all because of her lack of "appropriate" access to technology. Which, in addition to being short-sighted and ridiculous, pretty much lets society off the hook for any responsibility for this girl's success. It also reinforces the idea that the norms of today are the only possible norms to live by and that there isn't value in questioning them and choosing a different path.
Basically, I think the best thing about this book was the title.
A general problem I have with many of this type of parenting book is that they don't go beyond the very obvious. They seem to assume a level of pathology that has driven you to this book and then they go about giving you steps to fix that - mostly commen-sense stuff. And while I do believe that we can all use a good dose of common-sense now and again, I was hoping for a broader discussion of societal issues and impacts rather than "you have to teach your kids how to wait for things."
There was also a lot of exaggeration for effect in this book. And the author based virtually all of his anecdotes on his experience with his own patients - kids who had come to him for help managing their lives, not necessarily "typical" kids. And the examples he gives frequently didn't ring true to me - are parents out there really as clueless as he gives them credit for? Perhaps I am naive, but I like to think most of us are trying a bit harder than he imagines.
What I did agree with was his assessment that too much of our interaction with our kids is guilt-driven - that we never seem to think that we're doing enough for them, and that we are always trying to make up for some of our deficiencies. We also tend to have very child-focused families, which isn't healthy either.
Finally, near the end of the book, he used an example of a girl of limited financial means, living in a more affluent community. He bemoans the difficulty she has without her own computer. She uses the library and doesn't even have an email address! (Which is ridiculous and shows how little this doctor even knows, since free email accounts through the web are hardly difficult to come by) She has a cell phone, but - oh the horror! she can't even text with it. He really seems to condemn this girl to some sort of unsatisfying life all because of her lack of "appropriate" access to technology. Which, in addition to being short-sighted and ridiculous, pretty much lets society off the hook for any responsibility for this girl's success. It also reinforces the idea that the norms of today are the only possible norms to live by and that there isn't value in questioning them and choosing a different path.
Basically, I think the best thing about this book was the title.
June 6, 2016
The internet has brought new challenges to the task of parenting. Generation Text gives insight into how to guide children to profit from the incredible store of information at their fingertips whilst not harming or being harmed by information and videos etc. now available to them. The author has had decades of experience counselling teens and their parents. I agree with everything he has to tell us. I liked this quote from the text: "Instead of having to work to get things, for Generation Text they are readily available upon request. When you provide your child with unlimited Internet access, their own computers and cell phones, and your credit card information, why would you assume they would act any other way?" In addition to concerns about bullying, the dangers of strangers etc. is the concern of the shaping of your child's morals. By introducing a child to an aggressive behaviour set of violent video games, fantasy play for hours on end, we allow him to become desensitized to violence, which in turn becomes incorporated into his schema. This process is known as "normalization." The conclusion I came to after reading about the generation text is that the main downside of texting and spending hours on the internet is that kids are doing way too much sitting, not getting sufficient exercise and not experiencing things first hand. Regarding typical teenage resistance to family expectations I like Dr. Osit's advice: Try not to get caught up in daily arguments. Step back and try to recall your teenager's positive attributes. Try to find humour in your teen and in the situation. Keep in mind that eventually he/she will not be a teenager any longer. Been there, done that, even think I would enjoy being the parent of a 'generation text' teen because these kids know so much more than any generation from the past. The very best advice I found in this book was to teach your child that it is okay to be different, to not take part in an activity which goes against their standard of right and wrong or is simply not age appropriate. The battle against peer pressure is nothing new, it has just taken a different turn.
July 26, 2012
An interesting look into the effects of how technology is influencing a generation that is growing up with it. Even has some applicable lessons for those of us that weren't raised on it but are now taking it all for granted. Definitely a valuable book to read for any parent currently raising a child of any age.
Well written for a parenting book. Not too preachy. Not too cliche. Either the author is current, in-touch, and relevent to today's children, or I've become one of the out-of-touch dorky dads. Which I'm not ruling out at this point as I'm growing quite fond of khaki shorts and black business socks.
Well written for a parenting book. Not too preachy. Not too cliche. Either the author is current, in-touch, and relevent to today's children, or I've become one of the out-of-touch dorky dads. Which I'm not ruling out at this point as I'm growing quite fond of khaki shorts and black business socks.
October 1, 2015
Nothing earth shattering in here, but it was short, easy to listen to and gave some good suggestions. The science nerd in me liked his discussion of why certain things were happening. Like how the immediate availability of everything (information, communication, etc.) affected kids personalities. And I appreciated his perspective as a therapist and his specific tricks to help combat the entitled generation that seems to be forming.
December 30, 2008
It's pretty hideously awful and inconsistent so far. I may not finish. Nope, didn't finish it. Part of the problem was his pop culture references... they were so hideously dated (sorry Osit, I don't know any teenagers who follow or idolize Friends - you're about a decade or so too late on that) that they made me doubt his advice or perceptions of other situations. Do you get what I mean?
July 30, 2011
A great book for parents. The thread that runs throughout is empowering parents to manage the "excess & access" that technology brings into our kids' lives. It is cautionary in nature, but also very realistic. He encourages parents to be parents & not allow other people &/or things to dictate the value system of the home.
February 21, 2011
Sound parenting principles here, but nothing terribly new. Some of it is obvious, but then, good principles generally are. The pop culture and technology references are dated, but aren't really the point.
June 15, 2010
I loved this book! My husband and I are about to start a family. I have learned so much about how to parent this generation. I am a teacher and have also taken many techniques into my classroom from this book. A must read for any parent raising a teenager or younger!
January 9, 2014
Very much enjoyed. Good tools on how to compromise with your kids without sacrificing important family values. Not that much information was new to me, however, a great review and good reinforcement for myself. Would definitely recommend to other parents.
October 21, 2008
This book is very interesting regarding our generation and that of our children, however it is more geared towards parents. I would recommend reading it when we have children.
March 10, 2009
Took me a while to read and it was okay.
November 8, 2009
Great book. I wish I had more time to spend on it. I ended up flipping through the chapters. A lot of info on the psychological effects technology has on kids, their behavior, even bullying.
September 5, 2012
Osit stacks the deck in some of his presentation, but there is a lot of good material here for today's parents.
July 12, 2013
I want to buy it- definitely a good one to reference again and again.
Read
July 9, 2014Disappointing. Found via the mighty girl Facebook site but found it condescending and outdated.
February 2, 2016
Technology has created so many new issues when raising children; some good and some not so. Glad my children are grown. Interesting and must read for parents of young (6-17) children.
July 20, 2010
Nothing new here, but will reassure most parents.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews