The countdown to the Morton Pumpkin Festival is on, and the smell of rotting pumpkins is filling the air! Helen gives an update about her classes, including how she and her students are navigating her mostly-device-free technology policy. She talks through the examples of when classwork does allow for the use of devices and how she is using the tech intentionally with her students. Jordan shares about a recent local radio segment, “What to know about Illinois’ cell phone ban in schools,” from Illinois Public Media. In addition to discussing the new personal device law, there was talk from a professor about problems with edtech products entering K-12 schools. This leads to a discussion of the hoops educators often have to jump through in order to become professionally licensed while keeping up with the many requirements. Jordan shares the difficulties of transferring her own license from Indiana to Illinois--including the absurd requirement to sit for the SAT exam in her thirties! Then we talk through the fascinating and complex world of introducing bills to lawmakers. Jordan gives information for the upcoming listening session on September 15th being held by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) calling for parents, students, educators, and child development specialists to share their concerns about screens in schools. Helen closes with a story about how her bracelet-making fundraiser was included in the local newspaper with some possibly false details.

Find Helen on Substack at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Resonances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Join Jordan in⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠reConnect Morton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ through Four Norms.

When you need to get some energy out, crank up the tunes (maybe even some Sesame Street hits) and dance! Or at least that is what these two Millennial Moms recommend. Jordan shares the final update to her community grant project: all of the screen-free activity bins are now out! Then we dive into all of the details of the recent Meta settlement. In case you didn’t see the news, Meta will be paying up to $17.1 billion to forty-eight states over the next ten years and will be making several platform changes to improve safety and mental health for users under eighteen. Fun fact: $17.1 billion is a lot of money...unless you are Meta and that is only 1.16% of your $1.47 trillion current total value. Some of the settlement is dependent upon whether or not other social media companies (Snap, TikTok, and YouTube) reach a financial settlement with states and agree to implement platform changes as well. Helen and Jordan wish that some of the changes Meta has agreed to, such as only seeing accounts you follow in your feed, were available for all accounts, not just teens. The settlement money is going to divided between the states to fund youth mental health supports and education. Jordan shares a non-tech-funded/-influenced (unlike Common Sense Media) digital literacy resource: ScreenStrong: Kids’ Brains & Screens. We then talk about the global impact and crises that Meta has contributed to across the world. Helen tries to close with a profound thought, but her internet had some other ideas.

Find Helen on Substack at⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Resonances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Join Jordan in⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠reConnect Morton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ through Four Norms.

Sometimes when one of the Millennial Moms has her basement flood for multiple days, you plan nothing for your episode and instead go for a “grab bag” of topics. Turns out that works out great because we got to talk about a variety of important and interesting things! Jordan shares about several upcoming webinars for parents, educators, or literally anyone--all shared on the ever-growing Google doc. Two of the webinars will feature Natasha Singer, who has a new book, Coding Kids, releasing on September 8th. We then dive into Singer’s latest New York Times article, “How Big Tech Captured American Schools.” This creates some discussion about what is school actually for when the tech industry influences so many aspects of education. We then talk through what happens when a digital product company like Google makes a change to their product and how that impacts users. Helen shares her classroom technology policy for this semester in her role as the Clinical Coordinator for the English Education program at Illinois State University where she teaches future teachers. Helen teaches Jordan there is a version of Instagram you can pay a monthly fee for, and Jordan thinks it is ridiculous...because it is. This, of course, leads to Jordan sharing all about the purse obsession she had in her younger days with the designer Paul Frank. Helen’s purse style has been (and always will be) thanks to Kohl’s.

Find Helen on Substack at⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Resonances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Listen to Helen's friends on Go Kvetch!

Join Jordan in⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠reConnect Morton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ through Four Norms.