A majority of parents, 83%, believe the mental health of children in the United States is worsening, according to a national poll on children’s health conducted by the University of Michigan CS Mott Children’s Hospital.
And many are blaming screens. Three-quarters of respondents agree that both social media and device use in general are big issues for young Americans, and 66% specifically cite internet safety.
Katherine Price, a health science journalist and mother of a 10-year-old daughter, agrees with the same parents. All the time kids spend on screens, she says, is time they’re not “developing real-world skills, real-world relationships, or having real-world experiences.”
Price recently collaborated with Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, to write a book about screen and social media use for teenagers. Its title is “The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World.” And she has some suggestions for parents who want to curb their children’s device use.
Here’s what she recommends.
3 ways parents can reduce their children’s screen time
1. Model the habits you want your children to develop.
“Limiting your kids’ screen time will be easier if they see that you’re also working on your own habits,” Price says.
Experts agree that modeling the behaviors you want your children to exhibit is key to helping them shape.
“Think about the kind of person you want your child to be,” author and educator Theo Wolf wrote in a recent article for CNBC Make It. “Ask yourself: Am I exhibiting those traits in front of them? Am I doing something that goes against the values I want to convey?”
You can also ask your children to take responsibility for looking at their phones or computers too much.
2. Invest in a shared cell phone for your family
Instead of giving your kids their own phones, get a few shared phones for your family.
Price suggests children use landlines to develop conversational skills, and encourages them to use the phone to contact grandparents or chat with friends.
You can also give your family a flip phone for after-school activities or when going to a friend’s house. “They take it, use it, and give it back,” she says.
3. Let them pay for their smartphones themselves
Price recommends that children should wait until they are at least 16 years old to get a smartphone, a guideline also recommended by psychologist Jean Twenge.
However, if you want to postpone it further, you can tell them that you will have to pay for the smartphone yourself. If you know you’re financially responsible, “you probably won’t have it until you’re 25,” she says.
Plus, she says, it may also help “teach many important lessons about striving toward goals.”
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