SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 | 9A
said, “The worst thing a parent
Multiple studies have shown can really leave some lasting that, “You really do have a big
can do is hand over a smart- how games, with their bright scars.”
impact on what your family
a day gaming. Her daughter, a phone and hope for the best. But colors, sounds and in-game re-
Cyberbullying has grown as a and teen engage in. Be that role
tween, begged her for a smart- parents often feel like
model and the person
phone with a data plan so she trying to set limits is
can come to if
“Something that is often misunderstood is that parents they
could use social media with her pointless, that the cat
they have an issue.”
friends.
is out of the bag, tech do have a lot of influence over their teens’ behavior. We
For Bob Teter, ex-
“Everyone has one,” she said. is everywhere. I hear know from studies that teens are less likely to engage in ecutive director of
Ruston thought that couldn’t all kinds of excuses.
Siuslaw
Outreach
be the case, but “Screenagers,” But kids’ brains aren’t the behavior if they know that their guardians, parents or Services (SOS) and
the culmination of research, in- wired to self-regu- trusted adults in their lives disapprove of that behavior.”
vice chairman of the
terviews and her own family’s late. They can’t do it
— Abbie Lee, Lane County Community Health Analyst, Healthy Directions
experiences, shows how tech- without you, and they
Coalition, he sees
& Healthy Directions Coalition coordinator many examples of the
nology has saturated every facet shouldn’t have to. So
of many people’s lives.
you have set guide-
way technology can
“The desire to have these lines.”
wards, can target the feel-good trend since the internet allows affect a home.
things is deep,” Marohl said.
The film shows the idea of a centers of the brain.
people to hide behind user-
“I have seen over the years a
He talked about his 8-year- contract several times, starting
“Those flashing lights and the names, profile avatars, photo kind of parallel with what the
old son, who plays some games with the 2013 viral news sto- sounds are hitting those reward filters and voice modulators. kids are being exposed to and
and also uses apps like Scratch ry of Janell Burley Hofmann, centers in the brain,” Marohl While these tools used in the the increase in domestic vio-
and Code Academy to learn a mother who decided to give said. “That rush of dopamine is right way can be fun, they take lence, because kids aren’t learn-
how to code.
her 13-year-old son a contract intense for people.”
away the accountability.
ing consequences,” he said.
“He goes to school and he along with his first iPhone.
“Screenagers” shows how
“These are not things that “If you have a disagreement,
rides the bus and he comes When Ruston replicated the dopamine is especially potent a kid would stand face to face you don’t work it out; you shut
home and says, ‘Dad, I should idea, however, her daughter was in teens and tweens — “There and say to another child. There them off, or you retaliate. That’s
get to play “Fortnite” (a video not happy. It wasn’t until the is no other time in life when is no way that they would have carried over into adults. … So
game) and I should get to play family sat down together that you’re as susceptible to that the guts to stand there and say they’re having problems. ‘I
this or that.’ The pressures to the contract actually worked for pleasure-producing chemical that, but you hide behind your can’t deal with you, I can’t work
play those video games and everyone.
than in adolescence,” Ruston screen and you put this out things out, so I’m going to re-
be on those websites and have
“It’s best to create a contract said.
there,” Marohl said. “Even some taliate.’”
these devices are really power- with your kids’ input,” Ruston
According to Lee, “Teens are of our best kids get caught up
But screen time is also related
ful,” Marohl said.
said.
learning and growing, and like in this, and then they get em- to depression and feeling un-
The parents in attendance
Lane County Public Health the documentary said, espe- barrassed about what they’ve happy with life.
spoke about the “everybody Community Health Analyst cially the part that controls the done and don’t want to come
According to Jean M. Twenge,
does it” mentality, especially Abbie Lee, coordinator for impulses and decision-mak- forward, ever.”
in The Atlantic’s September
when they as parents know of Healthy Directions Coalition, ing is still developing in teens
Cyberbullying can also be the 2017 edition, “The more time
other families who also want to said the coalition focuses on up through adolescence and spreading of rumors, informa- teens spend looking at screens,
restrict screen time.
preventing underage drinking, through adulthood as well. The tion or private photos. “Screen- the more likely they are to re-
“There is strength in num- but it also looks at environmen- brain is still developing through agers” showed the example of a port symptoms of depression.
bers,” one dad said about sev- tal factors affecting youth and the age of 25.”
tween who thought she sent her Eighth-graders who are heavy
eral families using similar families.
And just what are teens do- boyfriend a private photo just users of social media increase
methods to allow technology in
“We’re concerned with the ing with all that screen time? for him — and the next day it their risk of depression by 27
restricted times.
health side of this new age of Social media on platforms such was all over school.
percent, while those who play
One boy identified himself as technology and how it’s affect- as Snapchat, Instagram and
“When kids send things out sports, go to religious services,
an eighth-grader and said his ing other risky behaviors,” she Facebook allow people to post or share them, a lot of them or even do homework more
parents only let him use a Kin- said.
videos and comments. Phone don’t realize how quickly that than the average teen cut their
dle. His mom said she some-
She presented “Teen-Proof- games like “Candy Crush” often can spread. You can’t just back- risk significantly.”
times takes away the password ing Your Home,” a Prevention have unlimited settings, so peo- track something. It’s not like
As a professor of psychology
so he doesn’t always have ac- Lane program with tips for par- ple can play for extended peri- passing a note in class that can at San Diego State University
cess.
ents and families for “keeping ods of time, sometimes not no- be ripped up, shredded and and the author of “Generation
“Even a Kindle has got that teens and tweens safe.”
ticing the passage of time. Video thrown away. It’s images and Me” and “iGen: Why Today’s
internet accessibility, access to
Not only are kids these days games can be played single- or language that are out there for- Super-Connected Kids Are
social media and interactive faced with the dangers of de- multi-player. While some are ever,” Marohl said.
Growing Up Less Rebellious,
games that are out there,” Ma- pression, alcohol, drugs — es- story-based, problem-solving
Lee agreed.
More Tolerant, Less Happy —
rohl said. “If moderated, you’ve pecially with the recent legal- or have positive prosocial mes-
“When you put something and Completely Unprepared
got a good parent that’s paying ization of marijuana — and sages, many widely popular out there, and even if you your- for Adulthood — and What
attention to what you’re doing.” unsecured firearms, technology games feature violence or dan- self have privacy settings on That Means for the Rest of Us,”
Marohl and “Screenagers” is changing the face of addic- gerous activities.
your social media accounts, Twenge spoke with her students
both advocate for some technol- tion.
In those, it has become com- your friends and family who are and conducted several surveys
ogy use — but moderated and
In a PBS Newshour special mon to say, hear or be the target able to see that can now take a for her research.
restricted. A contract, agreed on “Screenagers,” Ruston and of derogatory comments.
picture or a snapshot of that —
“All screen activities are
upon by both the child and the the anchors discussed a May
This can lead to cyberbul- and that can spread elsewhere,” linked to less happiness, and all
parent, might be the best way to 2016 report issued by Common lying, a form of bullying or she said. “It’s just a good tip to nonscreen activities are linked
curb harmful behaviors. This Sense Media, which found that harassment using electronic remind your young people and to more happiness,” she wrote.
could be for setting set hours, “half of all young people feel means, across multiple plat- your family that everything you “Eighth-graders who spend 10
not using the phone during they are addicted to their devic- forms.
put out there — comments, or more hours a week on social
meals or even keeping device es. Almost 60 percent of adults
“The effects of cyberbullying photos, posts of things — it’s media are 56 percent more like-
screens open to the rest of the think their kids are addicted are really impactful,” Marohl going to be out there forever.”
ly to say they’re unhappy than
room.
too. And a third of parents and said. “They are impactful at
A common phrase is that those who devote less time to
In a follow-up interview with teens say that they argue daily home, impactful socially, im- the “internet is forever.” Peo- social media.”
The New York Post, Ruston about screen time.”
pactful emotionally and they ple running for office or in the
For students at the Boys and
limelight lately have been re- Girls Club of Western Lane
minded of past faux pas, be it in County, one young girl report-
long-buried Tweets, a comment ed, they have to complete all
The Siuslaw News, Florence Events Center and the Florence Wiener Dog Races
or joke that could be construed homework before they can go
as sexist or racist or even more to the technology.
of those private photos that
Once there, her dad said
were never meant to be shared. she likes to play “Just Dance,”
“It’s a really complex world a dancing game where partic-
that we need to teach our kids,” ipants mimic the dancer on
Marohl said.
the screen. It is often played in
One attendee echoed this, groups, providing both a phys-
saying that parents modeling ical and prosocial component.
correct screen-time behavior
Marohl said it was a positive
should help all members of a that it was both interactive and
family. She talked about her social for her peers, saying it
kids’ sports games and practic- was possibly for screen time to
es, and how many of the adults provide those benefits.
are constantly checking their
However, Teter warned that
Home of the Florence Wiener Dog Races
devices while their kids play.
while people use social media
“Maybe as a community, we ostensibly to connect to other
could model that better. It’s people, a 15-year-long Harvard
hard, though,” she said.
study found the opposite to be
Lee reminded the parents true.
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“What they saw over 15 years
as the access to social media
and the internet world increas-
es, so did suicide, attempted
suicide and kids feeling less
connected. It was just paralleled
with that. … It’s actually more
disconnecting than anything
else,” he said.
“As the middle school prin-
cipal, I do see this as an issue
that we need to address, not just
with schools but with families
in the community as well,” Ma-
rohl said. “I think getting the
conversations going and keep-
ing them going in our homes is
good.”
The schools, too, are doing
their part. This school year, new
art teacher Lauren Suveges was
hired in part due to her exper-
tise in digital citizenship, the
skill of navigating the internet
safely and perceptively.
According to Marohl, she will
be covering such topics as who
a person is, who they are on-
line, how they act and behave,
as well as the consequence.
“Every sixth-grader should
get that this year, and I’m hop-
ing to continue that and even
expand it as we can,” he said.
Siuslaw is also incorporating
new policies to deal with hand-
held technology use.
“There are two conditions
that need to be met to use a cell
phone in a classroom,” Marohl
said. “One of them is that it is
express teacher permission and
the second thing is that it is for
an educational purpose. If it
doesn’t meet those two prongs,
it shouldn’t be used.”
The middle school has also
removed students’ access to Wi-
Fi from their personal devices.
However, “They can access
(the internet) from any school
device, any of the Chrome-
books, laptops or computer
workstations,” Marohl added.
“I feel obligated to provide their
education, not their entertain-
ment.”
He also reiterated the idea of
a family contract decided on to-
gether.
“Know that you are the No.
1 influence,” Lee said in her
presentation. “Something that
is often misunderstood is that
parents do have a lot of influ-
ence over their teens’ behav-
ior. We know from studies that
teens are less likely to engage
in the behavior if they know
that their guardians, parents or
trusted adults in their lives dis-
approve of that behavior.”
Marohl referred people to
www.screenagersmovie.com
and its many resources: for dis-
cussion, parent-child contract
ideas and Ruston’s blog, “Tech
Talk Tuesdays.”
“Again, I just want to empha-
size that it is about trust,” Lee
said. “You’re the parent. It’s not
about being their best friend.
Set the rules and communi-
cate. I think communication,
which we try to emphasize in
our coalition, is the best thing
you can do to prevent risky
behaviors. Although you can’t
really ‘teen-proof ’ your teen,
you can do things in the en-
vironment and in your home
that keeps them safe.”
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