The Technology Addict: Brad’s Story

Solution

Results

Brad and his mom implemented a Media Contract. Although the first week of implementing the contract was bumpy, Brad and his mom had planned many alternate ideas of what to do instead of being on screens. His mom saw an immediate decrease in how aggressive his behavior was towards his sisters.

Here are two sources that provide examples of media contracts:

Brad started taking a class where he could learn to code. This helped him focus his passion for all things technology in a positive way.

He also dusted off his bike and started riding bikes with kids in the neighborhood. During one of his bike rides, he met an elderly neighbor couple, Stan and Ethel. After several conversations with Stan and Ethel, Brad now helps out with playing with their dog.

Brad’s mom found that her favorite strategy to help Brad refocus on treating others nicely came through nightly Kindness Hunts. Identifying kind and unkind behavior in books that they read together gave Brad and his mom a chance to have meaningful conversations about how he was feeling and how the family could support each other better. After a while, Brad started bringing examples of kindness he found in his own graphic novels to show her.

The family started using Compassion Conversations prompts during Sunday dinners. They quickly decided to have a daily kindness check-in at dinner to help each other see more kindness in their family and their community.

Several months after implementing these ideas, we received a message from Brad’s mom.

“Sheila, I didn’t really know how simple ideas would help Brad. I was really skeptical . . . Well, we have seen our entire family shift our perspective and be more kind to one another. As a family, we have decided to help our neighbors with their garden since Brad said they were having trouble keeping up with all the work. None of us really know how to garden. So, we’ll need to learn. What a switch from even three months ago when we started our new kindness habits!”