If you’re worried about how much screen time versus dream time your kids are getting, you’re not alone. But for your child’s wellbeing, it’s time to reign in the connectivity: Recent studies have found that teens who sacrifice sleep time for screen time are at a greater risk of sleep disorders, mood swings and depression – not to mention a less-than-stellar performance at school due to shortened attention spans.
So why do your digitally savvy kids value their connectivity so much? Think of your own exciting, enlightening and entertaining exchanges once experienced at the cinema with your peers… The relationships your children forge on social media platforms now resonate on that same kind of emotional level.
However, that doesn’t mean that your children should forfeit healthy cognitive function for a midnight marathon on the internet. Here are five ways to help your children find a better balance:
1: Check your mobile phone bills
Find out what time your kids are calling, texting and receiving messages or calls from friends. Once you have a clear idea of what’s happening post-bedtime, you’ll know how to address the issue and what kind of boundary to set.
2: Help them make the connection between screen time and health
Ask your children about their online and mobile device habits. Have they noticed any negative effects from staying up late to surf the net or BBM their friends? How often do they wake up in the middle of the night because someone called or texted them?
The point here isn’t to police them, but to teach them to make the right choices by helping them identify how certain aspects of their mental and physical wellbeing have been compromised by their screen-time habits.
3: Create a technology curfew.
If you can’t trust your child to not indulge in their devices after your curfew, make them hand over their devices every night at an agreed time. Will you be at the receiving end of a deluge of groaning, punctuated by melodramatic door-slams? Probably. But at some point, you have to set boundaries to help your child reap the benefits of regular, uninterrupted sleep.
Another option is to contact your carrier to turn off texting and phone service during certain hours. This way, you don’t have to play phone police all night, and they can keep their mobile phones with them.
4: Give your rules a healthy context.
This isn’t about enforcing rules and restricting digital activity so much as it’s about keeping your child healthy. Let them know that you know how valuable their devices are to them, but that we all need to learn to strike a balance.
So, instead of saying things like “No computer after 9pm†or “gaming is not allowed after bedtimeâ€, try setting a positive tone to the boundaries. Focus on the privileges they do have. Say “You can use your computer from 6 am to 9 pm, and your mobile phone until dinnertime†or “once your homework is finished, you can play your games until bedtimeâ€.
Be a role model.
Make sure you’re not always on the internet, or texting on your mobile phone devices too, especially when your kids need your attention or when it’s family time. If you’re arguing that, for the sake of their health, your children don’t need to be open for 24/7 interaction with their friends, then maybe you don’t need to be either?
By Laura Arnet Lee for Every Day Connected
