Technologically Impaired Teens: And the Soft Skills We Need to Teach Them to Succeed

Book excerpt: Is incessant technological use harming our children? Yes! The book Technologically Impaired Teens and the Soft Skills We Need to Teach Them to Succeed explores the negative effects teenage technological overuse has on student social interactions, communication skills, and concentration levels. In essence, technological overuse impedes the development of children's "soft skills," the essential social and emotional skills needed to navigate educational, professional, and personal lives successfully. Author LeeAnn Browett offers a method to counteract the negative effects of teenage technological overuse. The book serves as a teaching resource for elementary and secondary educators, particularly those teaching inquiry and social studies. Through increased collaborative group interactions, activities, and assessments, educators can teach students the essential soft skills needed to succeed in school, the workplace, and in life. The book identifies essential soft skills and provides a method for educators to teach and assess these skills. Elementary and secondary level collaborative group rubrics are included to assist teachers and students in identifying and assessing essential soft skills. Over 40 pages of ready-to-use, reproducible student resources, activities, and assessments are included to support student soft skill development. The sample student resources, activities, and assessments are aligned with Common Core State Standards and College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework Standards from the National Council for the Social Studies (2014). The book Technologically Impaired Teens and the Soft Skills We Need to Teach Them to Succeed is broken down into the following sections: 1. An overview of how technological overuse impedes children's skill development; 2. A summary of how impeded skill development manifests in the workplace and negatively impacts the ability to work collaboratively later in life; 3. An identification of the essential soft skills children and adults need; 4. An explanation of the Collaborative Group Rubric assessment tool; 5. Sample Collaborative Group Rubric teacher resources and student activities; 6. Sample grades six through twelve collaborative group activities and assessments to encourage soft skill development; and 7. An adapted Collaborative Group Rubric: Grades K-5 and sample elementary level collaborative group activities to encourage soft skill development and counter the detrimental effects of technological overuse in our younger students. While Technologically Impaired Teens and the Soft Skills We Need to Teach Them to Succeed is intended to be a resource for elementary and secondary educators, it is a useful parent resource as well. Parents and educators alike need to help children moderate their use of technology. Clear technological use boundaries must be set and modeled by parents and educators. Technologically Impaired Teens and the Soft Skills We Need to Teach Them to Succeed is not an anti-technology book. Browett acknowledges the benefits of technology in education and in life. Yet, Browett advocates for technological moderation and the need for educators and parents to counter the detrimental effects of technological overuse.