{"id":12964,"date":"2018-01-24T13:36:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T18:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=12964"},"modified":"2018-03-15T09:33:45","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T13:33:45","slug":"kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html","title":{"rendered":"Kirk Cameron Talks Kids and Smartphones in \u201cCONNECT\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CONNECT\"<\/a>In \u201cKirk Cameron: CONNECT,\u201d family advocate Kirk Cameron takes on one of the greatest challenges facing parents today: the rise of smartphones and social media. These devices have become a cultural rite of passage among children, and parents are buying phones for younger and younger children. Ever mounting evidence, however, points toward a myriad of dangers buried in the modern screen-obsessed world.\u00a0 \u201c[Too much technology] is deeply effecting kids\u2019 perceptions of themselves, their perception of their moral values, their understanding of the world around them, their sense of identity and purpose and their ability to have real relationships,\u201d Kirk Cameron said. \u201cThese are all things that are critical for our kids to grow up to be healthy adults\u2026 That\u2019s why I made the movie \u2018CONNECT,\u2019 to offer real help parenting kids in a social media world.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his six children reaching \u201csmartphone age,\u201d Cameron grew increasingly interested in the effects technology and social media had on children. \u201cAll you need to do is turn on the news or Google \u201ckids and social media,\u201d and you\u2019ll find endless articles and videos about the concerning effect of too much technology on children,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cTechnology is terrific, and we can use it for so many good things\u2026but we have to be careful that we don\u2019t give our kids tools that are more powerful than we have the ability to handle at a young age. A car is a great piece of technology, but I\u2019m not going to give it to my 10 year old.\u201d<\/p>\n

The questions of \u201chow young is too young for a phone\u201d and how to help children prepare for their inevitable exposure to social media haunts many parents of the so-called \u201cdigital generation.\u201d\u00a0 According to Cameron, there is not necessarily a single age where children old enough for a smartphone. \u201cI think that young people should have a phone when they need it,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cNot when they want it or when peer pressure is getting the best of them to have one\u2026If your children are babysitting and the house does not have a landline but the parents need to get a hold of [the babysitter], that may be a time [your child] needs to have a phone. But that doesn\u2019t mean that it automatically has to include access to Facebook, Instagram and SnapChat.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to social media, the issue becomes a bit thornier. \u201cParents have two reactions to social media,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cThey either check out and say \u2018This is too much to deal with\u2026\u2019 or parents get so scared of the whole thing that they try to wall their kids off from technology. But eventually the world is going to catch up with your kid, and a time is going to come when they need an email address or access to a phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCONNECT\u201d is likely to resonate with parents far more than most documentaries about social media and children because of the angle Kirk Cameron took with its creation. \u201cI\u2019m making this movie as a father, not as a neuroscientists or a professional family therapist. So, I have the same kinds of concerns that every mom and dad have that deeply love their kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKirk Cameron: CONNECT\u201d offers real help for parenting kids in a social media world and screens exclusively in movie theaters nationwide for two nights only on February 27 and March 1. Tickets are available at FathomEvents.com<\/a>, and the trailer is available on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n

**Update March 15, 2018: Due to the overwhelming response to “Kirk Cameron: CONNECT,” the film will return to cinemas nationwide for two nights only on Tuesday, March 20 and Saturday, March 24. Showings for both days will take place at 7:00 p.m. local time. Tickets are available now online<\/a> or at participating theater box offices<\/a>. The original screening dates sold-out across the nation, so get your tickets now!**<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In \u201cKirk Cameron: CONNECT,\u201d family advocate Kirk Cameron takes on one of the greatest challenges facing parents today: the rise of smartphones and social media. These devices have become a cultural rite of passage among children, and parents are buying phones for younger and younger children. Ever mounting evidence, however, points toward a myriad of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1847,3,1866],"tags":[1026,3580,2319,1810],"class_list":["post-12964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-trailers","category-movies","category-technology-2","tag-kirk-cameron","tag-kirk-cameron-connect","tag-parenting","tag-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nKirk Cameron Talks Kids and Smartphones in \u201cCONNECT\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In \u201cKirk Cameron: CONNECT,\u201d family advocate Kirk Cameron takes on one of the greatest challenges facing parents today: the rise of smartphones and social media.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kirk Cameron Talks Kids and Smartphones in \u201cCONNECT\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In \u201cKirk Cameron: CONNECT,\u201d family advocate Kirk Cameron takes on one of the greatest challenges facing parents today: the rise of smartphones and social media.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-24T18:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-15T13:33:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/CONNECT-1.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephanie Hertzenberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kirk Cameron Talks Kids and Smartphones in \u201cCONNECT\u201d","description":"In \u201cKirk Cameron: CONNECT,\u201d family advocate Kirk Cameron takes on one of the greatest challenges facing parents today: the rise of smartphones and social media.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kirk Cameron Talks Kids and Smartphones in \u201cCONNECT\u201d","og_description":"In \u201cKirk Cameron: CONNECT,\u201d family advocate Kirk Cameron takes on one of the greatest challenges facing parents today: the rise of smartphones and social media.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html","og_site_name":"Idol Chatter","article_published_time":"2018-01-24T18:36:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-15T13:33:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/CONNECT-1.png"}],"author":"Stephanie Hertzenberg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html","name":"Kirk Cameron Talks Kids and Smartphones in \u201cCONNECT\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/CONNECT-1.png","datePublished":"2018-01-24T18:36:00+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-15T13:33:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/2accd57241ae3de281b15e255b66b126"},"description":"In \u201cKirk Cameron: CONNECT,\u201d family advocate Kirk Cameron takes on one of the greatest challenges facing parents today: the rise of smartphones and social media.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/CONNECT-1.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/CONNECT-1.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/kirk-cameron-talks-kids-smartphones-connect.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kirk Cameron Talks Kids and Smartphones in \u201cCONNECT\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/","name":"Idol Chatter","description":"Beliefnet Entertainment blog, TV blog, Movie blog, Religion in entertainment blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/2accd57241ae3de281b15e255b66b126","name":"Stephanie Hertzenberg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/080\/080e3b9c5b3764a74a7323d03c0bfb80x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/080\/080e3b9c5b3764a74a7323d03c0bfb80x96.jpg","caption":"Stephanie Hertzenberg"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/authors\/s\/stephanie-hertzenberg.aspx"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/author\/shertzenberg"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/616"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12964"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13175,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12964\/revisions\/13175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}