Book offers tips to manage digital disruption

Published 8:39 am Thursday, June 25, 2026

QUINCY — When Kirsty Nolan’s personal and professional lives focused on a common issue tied to technology, she turned the result into a book.

“Rebooting Childhood: How to Balance Screen Time, Build Relationships and Help Kids Thrive” introduces new ways of managing and responding to the endless digital disruption reshaping childhood and parenting.

“I’m a mom myself. I have an almost 3-year-old and a 16-year-old stepdaughter. We are really living in this digital world with them, facing many of the challenges that parents are facing on how do you find ways to balance screen time, how to support your teenagers through a virtual world and a real world and the behaviors that come from it,” said Nolan, Chaddock’s lead trainer.

“With Chaddock, the work we do is all rooted in brain science and relationships. We can apply the same knowledge and expertise to behaviors around screen time and technology,” she said. “We know how children’s brains develop. We know how screens impact brains and behaviors that come from it. We also know how to support kids through it. Why not write something about this and try to help people?”

Nolan divided the book, which is her first, into two parts.

The first provides background on brain and child development and what’s known as digital disruption, or how technology, media and screens can disrupt a child’s healthy social, emotional and physical development. The second part offers tips for parents with age-specific examples and suggestions drawn from Chaddock’s work with developmental trauma and attachment.

“If you’ve got a 6-year old and struggling with screens, turn to Part 2, find a 6-year-old example and get some go-to suggestions,” Nolan said.

The best advice for all parents and caregivers, Nolan said, is to focus on making connections with youngsters as a way to find balance with screens, behavior and technology.

“I know that some days are going to be about screen time. Other days will be about doing other things. You have to do what works for you, but again, it’s about finding balance,” Nolan said.

There’s no shame, Nolan said, in handing over a tablet to entertain a child to enjoy a cup of coffee while it’s still hot, but making tech the default for a child creates other challenges.

When screens become the go-to soothing tool for a young child, he or she doesn’t develop self-regulatory skills to handle challenges, and when screens aren’t available, such as at school, the child may struggle with behavior issues.

“My hope is that parents and caregivers are able to reconnect and regain control in their homes when they feel that tech is becoming out of control,” Nolan said.

“It can feel like a constant battle. It’s exhausting for parents and caregivers, but there is hope. It takes patience, forbearance, intentionality, but it can be doable.”

Kirsty Nolan’s “Rebooting Childhood: How to Balance Screen Time, Build Relationships and Help Kids Thrive” is available on Amazon and at chaddockstore.org.