Teen Safety on Social Media Dishtory Preserves Food and Family Memories

New app developed by Toledoans creates audio heirlooms by recording recipes

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It all started with a cookie. Dan Zawisza was hoping to re-create the perfect sugar cookie from his childhood, so he went to the source and called his mother. “The inspiration for Dishtory started with a conversation between me and my mother,” Zawisza said. “Looking to share the sugar cookies I remembered from my youth with my own family, I wanted to get her cookie recipe for myself. After a game of phone tag, my mom called me back and left a voicemail describing how she used to make the cookies, and that’s when the concept of Dishtory was born. After listening to the voicemail, I realized I now have this recipe (preserved) for the rest of my life, and in my mom’s voice.”

Begin at the beginning

By Laurie Bertke

By Andrew Kersten

Zawisza, a lifelong resident of Toledo and a University of Toledo graduate, contacted Chris Kozak to brainstorm the idea. Kozak, also a Toledo native and UT graduate, knew where to start.

The American Psychological Association (APA) recently released a health advisory as guidelines for limiting social media use among adolescents.

In light of media coverage about the harmful effects that apps such as Instagram can have on young people, many parents are wondering how they can protect their kids. Is it okay for your child to use social media? If so, how can they do so safely?

“Chris started from the beginning by saying, ‘We don’t know what we don’t know,’” Zawisza said. “So we went to as many Northwest Ohio resources as we could find. We talked to the Chamber, Rocket Launch and Jump Start to help lay the foundation for the app. In addition, we used local resources like (the law firm) Eastman and Smith for legal help, Front Door Marketing for

Making sense of the recommendations

That being said, there have also been positive effects with social media, especially in its ability to connect people during the toughest of lockdowns at the beginning of the pandemic. But of course, moderation is key.

The advisory includes 10 recommendations based on feedback from an advisory panel of health experts to help parents create healthy and safe social media practices with their children. The recommendations include social media literacy, promoting a healthy online environment and ensuring that the use of social media does not interfere with sleep and/or physical activity, among others.

Seeking guidance, we reached out to Dr. Caroline Fenkel at Charlie Health, the first-ever virtual mental health clinic for high-acuity patients. The clinic serves teens and young adults struggling with mental health and substance use disorders. Fenkel, a licensed clinical social worker, is its co-founder and chief clinical officer. She shared some warning signs to watch for as well as tips for helping your teen maintain balance in their digital lives.

From a parental perspective, the guidelines can be daunting, but the APA stresses that these are merely guidelines and not an end-all-be-all for your child’s mental development.

promotional items, and Double A Solu tions for the app’s development.” or watch that new before you go to a few hours a day Snapchat and go cook or...anything!

TAKE MUSIC LESSONS!

You have worked with youth

Did it surprise you when news broke that Facebook’s own research showed its photo-and video-sharing app, Instagram, can be toxic for teenage girls? Why?

Kozak knew that he wanted this app to be something that was accessible to all members of the family while also being user-friendly. “From the onset, we wanted this to be a multi-generational app, meaning it would be easy for users of all ages regardless of their technologi cal capabilities,” Kozak said. “Addition ally, I think Dishtory can help bring families together by sharing memories through meals they remember from years ago.”

Toledo’s largest music school:

The APA notes that using social media “is not inherently beneficial or harmful to young people” and is “dependent on [an] adolescents’ own personal and psychological characteristics and social circumstances,” meaning each child is different and matures at a different pace.

• More instructors

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• More opportunities!

Definitely not a surprise to me, and I would assume that most who provide mental health services for adolescents would agree. It’s pretty obvious even when you scroll through your own Instagram feed — let alone the feed of an average teenager — that the platform

From development to debut Kozak was no stranger to the kitchen. With a family background in the restaurant business, he knew how important it was to record and save recipes that could be passed down. A simple threebutton design allows users to record, review and save those recipes with their

Also, curate your people who make yourself or your report any bullying cludes passive-aggressive and anonymous is your mental health, you have a social that is positive for maybe even teaches can make a huge

Ashley Muszynski, MD, a pediatrician at ProMedica Physicians Oregon Pediatrics, says that social media is a double-edged sword, and — when not than good. “It [social media] can give a child a sense of community by connecting to other people, especially in smaller school districts, but it can also lead to your children comparing themselves to social media influencers which can lead to insecurity, anxiety and depression.”

Connecting Zawisza download to the kitchen, memories.

What are some digital addiction

“The launch has been an exercise in patience,” Kazak explains. “Dan and I have been working on this for more than two years, so the launch didn’t happen overnight. We’re very excited to finally share this with the world, and to help everyone start saving and sharing parents need to play a large role in their should start with social media literacy,

“Parents should actively try to teach their children social media literacy to help them understand what’s happening in the world so that when they see it online, the message or image won’t be misconstrued,” Dr. Muszynski says, adding that it’s important for parents to look at screen time usage as a whole, not just social media use. According to Children’s Hospital of Orange County (California)(CHOC), over 65 percent of teens spend more than four hours on

“The best cluded in cook together!” grandparents and work a delicious adults and walk kids the recipe pictures of ence of cooking family memories, is recorded, generations.”

The app stores, the

Broadly speaking, tionship to devices, ing, etc. is what’s attention to. The ous thing to note, best way to determine young person has ship with technology. it exists on a spectrum person to person. ship to Instagram phone begins to ships, that’s when to reevaluate its lower self-esteem, participation in enjoy, increased disconnection, higher ger than usual, disrupted and disproportionate bing, screaming, the idea of losing ogy and/or platform.

What are the addiction, and parents respond seeing these warning Living with a be thought of through addictions: it chips identity, it cuts them relationships and and it makes participating life nearly impossible.

“There have been a lot of studies that show blue-light emitting devices such as phones or tablets can affect the natural production of melatonin in a child’s body,” says Dr. Muszynski, adding that if you start by limiting screen time, it will be easier to enforce social media www.toledoparent.com

Find the recommendations, in full, at apa.org..