Screen Time Management & Digit Well Being in Children & Teens

A report by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that 50% of teenagers aged 13-17 spend more than 4 hours on the screen connected to the internet, with a significant number of these adolescents experiencing anxiety and depression. In the world of statistics, we learn that correlation does not imply causation, however, we also can’t deny that the increased screen time has negatively impacted time engaging in more meaningful and socially healthy experiences. This pattern has also been shown to impact sleep, energy levels, social skills and motivation. Now with Artificial Intelligence, technology will be even more relied upon when children are learning and researching information as early as elementary school. Now that the genie is out of the bottle, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon and rather than expending energy in putting him back, we have to teach our children how to live with all of this technology without it negatively impacting their social, behavioral and emotional well being. 

With every new technological invention, parents had to learn how to create boundaries and routines so that it didn’t lead to imbalanced behaviors. Whether radio, television, DVDs or on-demand television, society has had to learn how to adapt and coexist. As a parent, it feels that it is getting harder and harder to achieve this due to the speed at which new technology is being created. It was only 20 years ago that we went from rudimentary texting to face to face, online communication. Now children have endless amounts of content (e.g., Tik Tok or Youtube), gaming (e.g., Roblox or Steam) and online forums (e.g., Reddit or Discord). It’s so much content that children’s brains don’t know how to monitor and create their own habits of self-discipline without our help.

Here are some effective ways to ensure your children develop healthy digital well being habits:

1. Start From Day One: Phones, iPads, laptops, etc. are privileges. Let me repeat that. Phones, iPads, laptops, etc. are privileges. Your children do not have a right to a phone…and technically, if they didn’t buy it with their money and don’t pay the monthly service fee, they are just borrowing it from you. As early as possible, set limits regarding screen time, allowable and forbidden apps/games, where the phone stays overnight, etc. If there are no limits, create some, but do it with your children so they feel they have somewhat of a say and ensure that they understand that it is not a punishment, but has to do with their overall health. 

2. Create balance: While the maximum recommended time online for children and teens is at most 2-3 hours per day, there should be the same amount of time with no technology when children are engaging with peers, being physically active or creative. This can include practicing an instrument, playing with toys like Legos or magnetic tiles, reading/writing or just “hanging out.” 

3. Practice what you preach: As early as possible, begin modeling these desired behaviors so your children can observe your own self-discipline and healthy habits regarding screen usage. Let your children see you put your phone away while eating, speaking with them, exercising, etc. 

4. Use a hierarchy of screen usage: Children and teens use their devices for dozens of reasons but we can assign them to different categories based on their purpose and value. Parents will have different values from one another but creating a digital hierarchy will make it easier when establishing boundaries and routines. For example, you may value using technology for education greater than practical life skills therefore your child may have more freedom for online learning. 

Education	School assignments, learning a new language or activity
Socialization	Communicating with peers or meeting new people
Mental Health/Well Being	Mindfulness tools, therapeutic apps
Creativity/Expression	Digital art, creative writing, generating websites or content
Practical Life Skills	Calendars, to-do-lists, banking
Entertainment	Gaming, funny or random videos

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point, he explains how and why certain ideas, products, or behaviors suddenly explode in popularity, often due to a combination of the right people, message, and environment. We’ve already blown by our technological tipping point and are now in the adaptive phase. Unfortunately, the learning curve has impacted our children’s mental and physical health which further emphasizes the importance of parents leading the way in setting healthy limits and routines so they can grow up to be advanced screen time managers with a strong digital well being.

David Krasky is the author of Raising Future Adults, a guide for parents on raising independent, socially mature and emotionally healthy children.

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