In today's world, it can be very hard for teens to grow up surrounded by media. While teens today share similar concerns about fitting in, friends and school as most of their parents, they are also bombarded with the media. Teens don't usually stray far from their phones, video game consoles, TVs or computers. It is easy for these media technologies to distract teens from homework and physical activities. This is a growing concern among parents, teachers, doctors and other professionals. Some studies have shown that teens are plugged into media over 7 hours every day for 7 days a week. This amount of screen time can have some detrimental effects on teens so many parents are looking for ways to reduce the amount of time teens spend plugged into media.
How to reduce your teen's screen time. It may be incredibly frustrating for parents when their teens spend hours and hours every day on their cell phones, their computers, their video game consoles and so on. But rest assured, there are strategies parents can do to reduce their kids' screen time.
Pay attention to your own screen habits. You are an important role model for your teen, even if it seems like they don't pay attention to you. You can't tell your teen to cut down on his or her screen time when you don't do the same. Don't eat with your Blackberry, don't text while in the car and so on. If you set rules for screen time, you all have to follow it - even the adults!
Remind teens to watch their screen usage. It's impossible in this day and age to ban electronics - we are just too bombarded by media. But remind your teen to watch how much time they are spending on their electronics. This shows your teen that you are paying attention to how much time he or she is on a screen. It's completely reasonable to say to your teen " You've been using your cell enough, it's time to put it down and go do something else." The teens growing up now were born with digital so they need gentle reminders from us to unplug from the world for a bit.
Turn screen time into active time. While you are spending time in front of the screen, try doing something that is active. Some ideas include stretching, yoga poses, lifting weights and so on. Or, make it a family challenge to see who can do the most jumping jacks during a commercial or the most push-ups during the playing of the theme song.