We caught up with fab author Nicola Morgan, who's an expert on how the teenage brain works, and how life online can impact on this! Fascinating stuff... read on to find out more!
NICOLA SAYS:
A big wave of positivity to you, lovely Cathy’s readers! And thank you, Cathy, for asking me to come here and say something about The Teenage Guide to Life Online. The book should really be called Everyone’s Guide to Life Online. Your parents need to know this stuff as much as you do – maybe more! Adults often behave pretty badly with their phones and tablets, even while telling you to use yours less. Have you noticed??!
I’ve studied all the science behind our use (and over-use) of screens and I know that the risks and problems (as well as the positives) apply to all ages. We all need to understand this – so, tell your parents, especially next time they answer an email or text when you’re trying to talk to them or next time they’re suffering stress from being online too much…
The Teenage Guide to Life Online has stacks of fascinating science about all the positives and negatives but let me give you my four top tips here. (I have loads of free downloadable stuff on my website and anyone who orders a book from my site will get two signed cards, one of them with these tips on. You’ll find the free stuff and details here.)
Don’t compare yourself to the “perfect” lives you see online: it’s not the whole truth. People put their best stuff online and hide the boring, difficult or embarrassing bits.
If being online is making you feel bad, switch off, walk away and do something else. You’ll notice that you feel better – and the world didn’t stop just because you weren’t online for a bit.
Put your phone away if you want to do your best work. When we need to concentrate on something, we do better if our phone is out of sight and switched off. (Ideally somewhere we can’t easily get it – so, not in our bag or drawer but in a different room, or locked away.)
Make sure you spend enough time on things that we know are essential to well-being: sleep, physical exercise, face-to-face communication, hobbies and day-dreaming. If you’ve done all this, there’s no problem being online. (TTGLifeOnline has fascinating stuff about the power of day-dreaming and it’s something most of us aren’t doing enough of now, as we just get our phones out when we have five minutes of “empty time”. That empty time nourishes your mind, heart and creativity.)
Life online is wonderful and brings enormous benefits but we can have too much of it and it can start to dominate our lives. The Teenage Guide to Life Online gives the how and why – and how to have the benefits without the negatives.
If you’d like a chance to win a signed copy, add a 'pick me' comment below and one random person will be picked as the winner! The comp will run for just 14 days, so don't delay!
Btw, I have another new book: Positively Teenage. Both books are written for you, from me. I hope they help you have the best life possible. Take care, keep control and build the best life you can for yourselves, online and off-line. Because you’re worth it!
CATHY SAYS:
Wow... a book we could ALL use, and an amazing COMP as well! Thank you so much Nicola! COMMENT BELOW with 'PICK ME' to be in with a chance of winning a signed copy!
NICOLA SAYS:
A big wave of positivity to you, lovely Cathy’s readers! And thank you, Cathy, for asking me to come here and say something about The Teenage Guide to Life Online. The book should really be called Everyone’s Guide to Life Online. Your parents need to know this stuff as much as you do – maybe more! Adults often behave pretty badly with their phones and tablets, even while telling you to use yours less. Have you noticed??!I’ve studied all the science behind our use (and over-use) of screens and I know that the risks and problems (as well as the positives) apply to all ages. We all need to understand this – so, tell your parents, especially next time they answer an email or text when you’re trying to talk to them or next time they’re suffering stress from being online too much…
The Teenage Guide to Life Online has stacks of fascinating science about all the positives and negatives but let me give you my four top tips here. (I have loads of free downloadable stuff on my website and anyone who orders a book from my site will get two signed cards, one of them with these tips on. You’ll find the free stuff and details here.)
Don’t compare yourself to the “perfect” lives you see online: it’s not the whole truth. People put their best stuff online and hide the boring, difficult or embarrassing bits.If being online is making you feel bad, switch off, walk away and do something else. You’ll notice that you feel better – and the world didn’t stop just because you weren’t online for a bit.
Put your phone away if you want to do your best work. When we need to concentrate on something, we do better if our phone is out of sight and switched off. (Ideally somewhere we can’t easily get it – so, not in our bag or drawer but in a different room, or locked away.)
Make sure you spend enough time on things that we know are essential to well-being: sleep, physical exercise, face-to-face communication, hobbies and day-dreaming. If you’ve done all this, there’s no problem being online. (TTGLifeOnline has fascinating stuff about the power of day-dreaming and it’s something most of us aren’t doing enough of now, as we just get our phones out when we have five minutes of “empty time”. That empty time nourishes your mind, heart and creativity.)
If you’d like a chance to win a signed copy, add a 'pick me' comment below and one random person will be picked as the winner! The comp will run for just 14 days, so don't delay!
Btw, I have another new book: Positively Teenage. Both books are written for you, from me. I hope they help you have the best life possible. Take care, keep control and build the best life you can for yourselves, online and off-line. Because you’re worth it!
CATHY SAYS:
Wow... a book we could ALL use, and an amazing COMP as well! Thank you so much Nicola! COMMENT BELOW with 'PICK ME' to be in with a chance of winning a signed copy!
Pick me!
ReplyDeleteBeing a teenager, and one that doesn't have a social life online, I would love to have this book, because I can relate to how having things like Instagram and so forth aren't really worth the effort and time. I'm also really fascinated by how our mind works.
:-)
"Pick me" my daughter has read over 40 books this year and would love to become an Author when she's older
ReplyDeleteWould love this for the library to get it into as many young hands as possible!
ReplyDeletePick me!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to win this for my children x
Pick Me!
ReplyDeleteWith a child just about to reach puberty I am very concerned about the role that social media will soon play in her life. This sounds like a great book to help us both get through the next few years!
Pick me!
ReplyDeleteI'm a teenager new to all this social media stuff and I love to use it to read online! Xxxoooxxxooo
My niece spends her life with phone glued to her hand, watching Instagram, YouTube and snapping away on snapchat. I would love this book to give to her.
ReplyDeletePick me! I am about to develop a cyber team at school to investigate the positive and negative aspects of our online lives.
ReplyDeleteWould love to win this ready for my new Year 7’s in September! Nicola’s books are always brilliant.
ReplyDeletePick me!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds very interesting and useful. I would love to read it and learn the impact social media can have on our minds.