Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

Most kids’ today are very tech savvy, whether they’re playing video games, watching streaming services, interacting on social media, or even — as the pandemic quickly showed us — attending school virtually. Tech companies have become a huge part of kids’ lives, but at what cost? Who benefits and how does technology and consumer capitalism affect child development? Susan Linn, one of the world’s leading experts on the impact of technology on children, is working to find the answers to these questions. There’s a growing body of research detailing the harms of excessive immersion in the unregulated, powerfully seductive, profit-driven world of the “kid-tech” industry. In Who’s Raising the Kids? Susan Linn explores the roots and consequences of this monumental shift toward a digitized, commercialized childhood. She identifies specific impacts on kids’ values, relationships, and their learning experiences. Even before the pandemic and the boom of online learning, kids have been important consumers for a range of t