Monday, February 11, 2013
Interview by Lon Woodbury
Improved family communication appears to be on the road to recovery. CEO of Familyejournal.com, Kevin Strauss, has created a free interactive internet site for families. He discussed with Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio how he is using digital innovation to boost family interaction.
About Kevin Strauss
Kevin Strauss earned his Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has worked for more than five years on National Institutes of Health funded medical device research at Amron Corporation in the area of positive behavior modification. His passion for psychology and family communication led him to create the Family eJournal.
Uniting Families Together
Strauss enjoyed the pleasure of household dinners at least 6 times a week when he was a boy in the 70's. It was a time for people to interact with each other and discover exactly how the day was going. Today, one family meal a week is the norm. According to recent research, only 40 % of American households dine together. Instead, they get in touch with each other through the Internet.
Strauss described to Woodbury how numerous social aspects caused this breakdown in family interaction. Today, many families have dual-incomes and parents are not home much. Other families are single parent households following a separation or a divorce. Interacting with family members, especially parents communicating with teenagers, is a lot more challenging in this busy age. Family chats are now more focused on exchanging timetables and arranging errands than a real sharing of ideas and opinions.
The Family eJournal aims to reduce this widening communication gap by using the Internet to revitalize dwindling family communications by sharing text messages on an interactive site. Strauss' objective is to enhance family relationships, and he hopes to re-establish trust and connection through sincere, open and carefully composed communication.
As a way to help stimulate chats, the website asks household members questions that will stimulate the sharing of honest thoughts and feelings. Those who sign up for the complimentary membership have complete privacy protection -- neither the public nor the Family eJournal staff have access to individual responses.
The way this electronic family journal works is remarkably simple:
A Family Leader signs up for the eJournal using a safe registration page, and they can then add household members. Notified family members will receive a verification e-mail containing their random password. To avoid duplicate subscribers, the Family Leader is the only person empowered to enlist family and relatives.
Additionally, the soul of the electronic journal is the Daily Experience Worksheet (DEW). This consists of a series of 4 easy questions. Answered by each household member, the questions are designed to offers insight into each person's feelings about events in their lives.
Although the questions appear to be very basic and informal, the kind of questions that might actually be asked around a family dinner table, they were carefully developed by expert psychologists, social workers and family therapists to improve self-expression.
Summary
Strauss thinks that this interactive online diary has the power to transform how families communicate in the real world, too. It should help members overcome their communicative difficulties so that they feel relaxed about sharing their thoughts in person. It's somewhat ironic that while the digital change in society played a role in disrupting family life, it might eventually prove to be a way to improve family interaction and family communication.
Interview by Lon Woodbury
Improved family communication appears to be on the road to recovery. CEO of Familyejournal.com, Kevin Strauss, has created a free interactive internet site for families. He discussed with Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio how he is using digital innovation to boost family interaction.
About Kevin Strauss
Kevin Strauss earned his Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has worked for more than five years on National Institutes of Health funded medical device research at Amron Corporation in the area of positive behavior modification. His passion for psychology and family communication led him to create the Family eJournal.
Uniting Families Together
Strauss enjoyed the pleasure of household dinners at least 6 times a week when he was a boy in the 70's. It was a time for people to interact with each other and discover exactly how the day was going. Today, one family meal a week is the norm. According to recent research, only 40 % of American households dine together. Instead, they get in touch with each other through the Internet.
Strauss described to Woodbury how numerous social aspects caused this breakdown in family interaction. Today, many families have dual-incomes and parents are not home much. Other families are single parent households following a separation or a divorce. Interacting with family members, especially parents communicating with teenagers, is a lot more challenging in this busy age. Family chats are now more focused on exchanging timetables and arranging errands than a real sharing of ideas and opinions.
The Family eJournal aims to reduce this widening communication gap by using the Internet to revitalize dwindling family communications by sharing text messages on an interactive site. Strauss' objective is to enhance family relationships, and he hopes to re-establish trust and connection through sincere, open and carefully composed communication.
As a way to help stimulate chats, the website asks household members questions that will stimulate the sharing of honest thoughts and feelings. Those who sign up for the complimentary membership have complete privacy protection -- neither the public nor the Family eJournal staff have access to individual responses.
The way this electronic family journal works is remarkably simple:
A Family Leader signs up for the eJournal using a safe registration page, and they can then add household members. Notified family members will receive a verification e-mail containing their random password. To avoid duplicate subscribers, the Family Leader is the only person empowered to enlist family and relatives.
Additionally, the soul of the electronic journal is the Daily Experience Worksheet (DEW). This consists of a series of 4 easy questions. Answered by each household member, the questions are designed to offers insight into each person's feelings about events in their lives.
Although the questions appear to be very basic and informal, the kind of questions that might actually be asked around a family dinner table, they were carefully developed by expert psychologists, social workers and family therapists to improve self-expression.
Summary
Strauss thinks that this interactive online diary has the power to transform how families communicate in the real world, too. It should help members overcome their communicative difficulties so that they feel relaxed about sharing their thoughts in person. It's somewhat ironic that while the digital change in society played a role in disrupting family life, it might eventually prove to be a way to improve family interaction and family communication.
About the Author:
Lon Woodbury created Struggling Teens to help families. He has the recorded this interview on his L.A. Talk Radio show for easy access at any time.
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