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Wednesday, July 5, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Parents can help manage children’s screen time
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
The speed and manner in
which most of us communi-
cate today — text, Instagram,
Twitter — seems normal, but
the access we have to one
another in this fast-paced
world can be a real challenge
for school-aged students and
their parents.
Summertime might be the
perfect time to address these
concerns and form some new
habits.
Earlier this spring, the
documentary “Screenagers”
was shown at Sisters High
School as an outreach to par-
ents in understanding how to
better guide their kids in the
age of ever-present screens.
Among other things, the
documentary shines some
light on some of the pitfalls of
instant media, especially for
teenagers, including texting,
sexting, and bullying, in addi-
tion to video game and phone
addiction.
Just last month three teen-
agers in Eugene were charged
with crimes for sharing nude
photos and videos over social
media of female students at
North Eugene High School.
The instant-ness and ease of
sharing personal and very
private information can cause
real trouble for those bent on
trouble as well as for those
who are not mature enough
to handle the phone in their
hands.
In addition to the dark side
of harassment and bullying
through social media, there
is a great concern about the
overuse of screened devices
as well as the content that
young people are expos-
ing themselves to, including
sexually explicit and violent
material. Parents often find
themselves in real battles with
their children when attempt-
ing to separate them from
their beloved screens.
Experts agree that for
parents, an informed, even-
handed approach with clear,
reasonable guidelines is
what most teenagers need
most, when it comes to being
responsible digital citizens
and to staying safe in a world
saturated by stimulating
information.
The “Screenagers”
website has a vast array of
resources for parents.
One of the resources on
the “Screenagers” website
(www.screenagersmovie.
com) includes suggestions of
how to make a family screen-
time agreement. This is a con-
tract among family members
focused on the house rules of
screen access. For example,
some families decide to put
out a basket in the entryway
to the house for phones to be
placed after school or at din-
nertime, where they remain
until homework, chores, and
dinner are finished. Other
families have a “lights-out”
rule during which the phone
is turned off or disabled at
bedtime. The concept is to
have agreed-upon guide-
lines to avoid overuse and to
also lessen the likelihood of
disagreements.
Although many Americans
want to deny the possibil-
ity, addiction to screens,
particularly when it comes
to video games, is a grow-
ing concern among mental-
health professionals. The
content of what children are
able to access is an additional
issue that requires diligence
— and even intervention
— since violent and adult
content is just a click away
if parental controls are not
employed.
PBS Newshour pro-
duced a show last year titled
“The drug-like effect of
screen time on the teenage
brain” which is still avail-
able online. It references the
Screenagers documentary in
regard to the addictiveness
of phones, games, and social
media in general. Doctors
and neuroscientists are find-
ing more and more evidence
of the potential for harmful
effects due to overexposure
to screens. (Find the link with
the online version of this story
at www.nuggetnews.com.)
The “Screenagers” website
has a vast array of resources
for parents, including apps
for monitoring and block-
ing smart phones, informa-
tion about digital citizenship,
research on this topic, the
impact on sleep, and non-
technology alternatives to
engage teens.
Summertime in Sisters
Country affords countless
alternatives to being in front
of a screen, but it may take
some planning, persuad-
ing, pulling, and pushing by
parents to get things mov-
ing. Left unattended, young
people might spend hours and
hours locked onto a screen
when they could be enjoying
the outdoors, reading, work-
ing at a job, volunteering, or
partaking in non-screen play.
Parents are advised to
develop a game plan before
speaking to their teenager
about screen time. Kids are
so accustomed to having free
and constant access to their
phone, games and consoles
that they tend to be “battle-
ready” when it is suggested
that they limit their use or
are asked to exert more self-
control. A firm, but gentle,
sharing of concern followed
by a reasonable plan of action
can work well. Writing down
the agreement is essential.
Parents are encouraged to
check their own use, or over-
use as the case may be, of
screen time for their own sake
and so as to not appear com-
pletely hypocritical.
Sharing with other par-
ents in a sort of “support
group” fashion can be effec-
tive as well. This is a hot
topic that many parents
are very concerned about,
but are of uncertain how to
approach.
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