Screen Time Diaries – 5 Facts about Teens and Screens & How to Deal with It
Kids today’s are in love with playing games, watching videos, networking and texting with their friends. It’s really hard for them to get away from these mobile devices. Time spent on these devices is increasing excessively as they prefer to sit in front of computers, their smartphones or watching TV, way more than going out and spend time with families. There are 5 very dangerous habits which can harm teens in the long run.
1- Childhood obesity
Spending more time in front of screens could lead to teen obesity which is very common in US these days. Mobile devices have replaced the physical gaming and activities which are becoming a cause of increased body fat among teens. They are missing out on outdoor activities, avoiding physical games; taking meals while texting, and staying up late.
2- Lethargy and Fatigue
Teens are texting even after the lights are out. Staying up late and texting on smartphones can cause sleep deprivation in teens which can directly impact their academic performance, health, and concentration.
3- Fatal car crashes
A lot of teens die each year in fatal car crashes and number of others suffer from serious injuries. Unfortunately, the biggest cause of these car crashes is texting while driving. Today’s teens are not safe drivers and abusing their devices on the road.
4- Aggression
Playing too much violent games could induce aggressive behavior in kids and they could start behaving like their favorite gaming character. They can have an appetite for violence and can often mix reality and games where violence is mostly glorified and rewarded.
5- Teen depression
Kids are getting obsessed with staying up-to-date and posting excessively on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. This can sometimes cause depression as the standard of happiness changes constantly and low self-esteem due to peer-pressure.
FamilyTime and Teens’ Digital Lifestyle
FamilyTime is helping scores of parents around the world in keeping a check on their teens and their device usage. Parents can view reports and put some parental restrictions to control their teens’ device usage. With FamilyTime parents can:
- View apps installed on their phones and tablets
- Block social media apps and games
- Put daily limits on certain apps
- Define rules like Bed Time, Homework Time and Bed Time and block their mobiles during those hours
- Schedule app blocking so you can block certain apps during school hours, etc.
Control Teens’ Cell Phone Obsession
Controlling the teens’ screen time is the need of time. And for that, parents can use FamilyTime Limit Screen Time features to control their device usage to ensure a balanced digital lifestyle.
Here is how you can set up and control screen time on your children’s mobile devices:
FamilyTime can help you, too if you’re in search of some parental controls. So let the good time roll with smart parenting!
