Our kids spend hours every day engaged with social media, and it doesn’t end at bedtime. Many teens stay awake at night, waiting for and responding to friends on social platforms. The same resources that help keep them “plugged in” culturally are partially responsible for rising rates of depression, anxiety, cyberbullying, sleep deprivation and a number of other problems.

As parents, we need to help our kids learn to maximize the benefits and minimize the potential harm associated with different social media platforms. Get started with these tips for setting healthy limits on technology use:

Cell phones

The ongoing debate in every parent’s mind surrounds the appropriate age for allowing kids to get cell phones. Whenever the perfect age in your family, it’s a good idea to start kids out with limits and increase phone privileges as they demonstrate responsible phone behaviors and healthy boundaries.

• Begin with limited features, such as calling only
• Establish reasonable time limits for daily use
• Set up privacy features on the device
• Add texting and other applications only after you’ve monitored use for a month or so and seen responsible use of the phone
• Require the phone to be turned off at night (keep it with you until the morning)

Computers

Whether you have a desktop or a laptop model, computer use is safest in a central location where you can monitor use. Let your kids know you’ll be monitoring their computer use in order to protect them from online harm. You’ll get pushback, for certain. You’ll hear every excuse why they should have access in their rooms. But your kids have no idea of the ugly path they could be led down without some adult supervision.

Online safety

Talk with your kids regularly about online safety. And don’t buy their argument that their web use is none of your business. Monitoring use of social media platforms and other applications is no different from paying attention to their driving habits. It’s our jobs as parents to keep our teens safe and simultaneously teach them how to start managing their own safety so they will eventually be fully responsible for themselves.

Encourage real, live conversations

Encourage your kids to spend at least as much time talking face-to-face with friends and family as they do chatting online. In-person communication includes multiple dimensions and senses. Electronic communication is only one dimensional.

Consider a Forcefield account

What’s nice about this application monitoring system is that it encourages parents and teens to collaborate to learn how to safely navigate social media and applications.

Healthy teens need healthy tech habits

There are some serious health risks for your teens if they start spending too much time online and not enough time engaging in real life.

• Kids need physical exercise to encourage good metabolism and maintain a healthy weight. Too much screen time means too much sitting and not enough activity.
• Screens cause sleep deprivation. Teen bodies are growing rapidly and that requires a lot of sleep. However, looking at bright screens stimulates the brain to stay awake. Many kids stay up for hours at night socializing via their smart phones.
• Social media use is linked to rising rates of depression and anxiety among teens. Think about it, through social media, kids constantly compare their lives to that of their friends and feel their own lives don’t measure up. The trouble is, they’re comparing their own outtakes to someone else’s highlight reel.

Like most things, technology offers both opportunities and challenges for parents. Protecting and preparing kids now will set them up for a lifetime of healthy media habits.