Cherishing childhood
Since 2014 have been an active and public advocate for reclaiming childhood in the face of the digital tsunami, raising awareness of the mental health impacts of screens - smartphones and social media especially.
My book Families in the Digital Age (Hybrid Press, published in 2019) explores the impacts of mobile screens and ways to live well and be emotionally agile in the digital age.
I welcome invitations to run workshops, share ideas and tools in your community and learn from you to help reclaim and cherish childhood.
“Drawing on her meticulous research and personal experience, Toni Hassan points to the ways we – and our children – can escape our addiction to smartphones and other IT devices. For parents who feel defeated by the powerful influence of social media in their children’s lives, this book will sympathise, illuminate, inspire and encourage us to believe there is another, better way to live. Families in the Digital Age is a practical guidebook to the many pathways to better mental health for all of us, but especially our children.”
Listen up.
Neuroscientist Mark A. Williams and I met at the Social Media Summit in Sydney in October 2024. I invited Mark to Canberra for a conversation about his book, The Connected Species. Manning Clark House hosted the event in December 2024. In a wide-ranging chat about human evolution, Mark explains how we need to disconnect and embrace the offline life to feel truly connected.
