The Leader Board

Technology Tips

Kyle Arlington - Superintendent of Schools

Fall 2023

Parenting quiz! Which of the following tasks is the most difficult for your children? 

a.) Cleaning their room 

b.) Doing their homework 

c.) Stepping away from their devices 

Although none of the above will be met with enthusiasm, detaching from screens is likely the greatest challenge for this generation of young people – and that’s by design. 

"Social media is designed to hook our brains, and teens are especially susceptible to its addictiveness,” said Nancy DeAngelis, the director of behavioral health at Jefferson Health in Abington, Pa.  

More than a third of those ages 13-17 say they use social media “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center. Although most social media platforms set 13 as the age requirement, nearly 40 percent of children ages 8-12 use social media apps, reported Common Sense Media.  

Around a third of teens say they know they spend too much time on social media, the Pew report noted. 

Educational leaders have a stake in creating healthy digital boundaries for kids and should support parents in working toward this common goal.  

That was the thinking behind Kenilworth Public Schools’ Parent Education Series, held over the course of the 2022-23 school year. Psychotherapist Lauren Muriello of the Well Being Therapy Center led the series, which focused on managing social media use and overall screen time.  

Our district team learned from Lauren’s advice and we have continued our conversation about monitoring young people’s technology use.  

Here are a few tips you can try with your family: 

• Open the floor for a discussion. Lauren recommends this approach even if you are exploring tech limits for the first time. Ask kids what they think would work; remember that they might know they’re spending too much time online but could feel powerless to make a change on their own. Implementing some limits and healthy habits as a family could have more impact. 

• Establish tech-free zones. Although you want kids to have some autonomy over tech decisions, set some family rules, such as making phones off-limits at the dinner table. It’s just as important to remove phones and tablets from bedrooms at night – which also removes any temptation and eliminates kids spending hours “doom scrolling.”  

• Discuss red flags. A number of factors can create a toxic online environment for kids. Empower them to handle situations by discussing potential issues in advance. Help them recognize the difference between situations to walk away from, and those to report to an adult, such as predatory behavior, cyberbullying and threats.

• Plan real-world fun. Although technology is a major source of entertainment, you can get kids on board with more interactive experiences. (Suggestions can include a get-together with friends, a nature hike or a family game night.) As Lauren explained during our Parent Education Series, parents can guide children toward spending time in healthy ways: “Why are we saying we need to limit tech? So that we give our kids the other opportunities to help them to thrive mentally, emotionally and socially.”
  
  

One recent study shows that we might be on the right track by limiting tech time.  

A group of students at Iowa State University was asked to limit their social media use to 30 minutes each day. After two weeks, these students had significantly lower scores for depression, anxiety, loneliness and fear of missing out compared to the control group, which was not asked to limit social media. 

The group that limited social media use also felt more optimistic, which gave hope to the lead study author Ella Faulhaber. 

"This experiment really shows you that if you try to limit your social media usage, it is effective and you might actually feel better.” 

You can find more tips in the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health.  

For more reading like this, check out our blog series, The Leader Board.