Monday, February 11, 2013
Interview by Lon Woodbury
Family communication may very well be on the road to recovery. Kevin Strauss, CEO of Familyejournal.com, a free interactive website for families, discussed with Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio how he is using digital technology to enhance family communication.
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.
Getting Families Together Again
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 aspires to reduce this disconnect by using the Internet to re-establishing family communication through sharing text messages on an interactive website. Strauss' goal is to improve family relationships by re-establishing trust and rapport through honest, open and guided written communication.
The website asks household members questions that will motivate the sharing of thoughts and feelings as a way to stimulate conversations. The website does not offer counseling. It only serves as an interactive platform. Those who sign up for the cost-free membership are reassured that neither the public nor the Family eJournal personnel have access to individual responses. Additionally, the website can be accessed from anywhere 24/7.
The way this electronic family journal works is remarkably simple:
A Family Leader registers for the eJournal making use of a safe registration page. He or she then includes family and relatives. Each receives a verification email containing their distinct and randomly generated password. In order to prevent a lot of duplicate registrations, the Family Leader is the only individual permitted to register other household members.
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.
Final Thoughts
Strauss thinks that this interactive online diary can transform how families connect in real life. It ought to help members overcome their communication troubles so that they feel sufficiently confident to share their thoughts and feelings in person. Ironically, while the digital revolution was somewhat responsible for disrupting family life, it might show the way to enhance family communication.
Interview by Lon Woodbury
Family communication may very well be on the road to recovery. Kevin Strauss, CEO of Familyejournal.com, a free interactive website for families, discussed with Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio how he is using digital technology to enhance family communication.
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.
Getting Families Together Again
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 aspires to reduce this disconnect by using the Internet to re-establishing family communication through sharing text messages on an interactive website. Strauss' goal is to improve family relationships by re-establishing trust and rapport through honest, open and guided written communication.
The website asks household members questions that will motivate the sharing of thoughts and feelings as a way to stimulate conversations. The website does not offer counseling. It only serves as an interactive platform. Those who sign up for the cost-free membership are reassured that neither the public nor the Family eJournal personnel have access to individual responses. Additionally, the website can be accessed from anywhere 24/7.
The way this electronic family journal works is remarkably simple:
A Family Leader registers for the eJournal making use of a safe registration page. He or she then includes family and relatives. Each receives a verification email containing their distinct and randomly generated password. In order to prevent a lot of duplicate registrations, the Family Leader is the only individual permitted to register other household members.
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.
Final Thoughts
Strauss thinks that this interactive online diary can transform how families connect in real life. It ought to help members overcome their communication troubles so that they feel sufficiently confident to share their thoughts and feelings in person. Ironically, while the digital revolution was somewhat responsible for disrupting family life, it might show the way to enhance family communication.
About the Author:
Find out more about Struggling Teens. Lon Woodbury has the recorded the entire interview on his weekly L.A. Talk Radio show for people to listen to at any time.
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