Parenting and motherhood base for the time of the top screen for children

Many parents struggle with the idea of giving their children Access to smartphones or other connected devices. How old should they be when they get their first phone or tablet? What are the elements of parental control, if any, which you should use?

Regardless of what you decide, you need to follow a “necessary” base to help your children grow to be happy and successful.

“You are a position where there is a kind of argument:” You do not need this phone in your bedroom when you are asleep.10 rules for raising children in the world of high technology“Posted on September 2.

Twenge spent most of the past decade Warning parents About the dangers of giving young adolescents unlimited access to smartphones and social media. I have been martyred research Connecting their use with higher rates of mental health problems in adolescents, including anxiety and depression.

Some other experts are paternity, motherhood and medical Similar warnings were issued: In 2023, the general surgeon at the time, General Vivek Mourthi I issued a consultant For example, the risks of social media and connected devices helped to create a “national mental health crisis for youth”.

In her book, TWENGE invites parents to wait for as long as possible before delivering smartphones to their children, or allowing them on social media platforms. It recommends keeping children to join social media until they are 16 years old or older, and from full access to their smartphone so that they have a driver’s license and is expected to “wander independently.”

But the prohibition of devices from the children’s rooms overnight is its first base because of its ability to improve their sleep habits, she says. In her book “Do this” is very important to physical and mental health.

“If you have a frequency range to follow only one base in this book, make it this book,” he writes. “There are no devices in the bedroom overnight, very clear and do not cost anything.”

“Not getting enough sleep is a dangerous factor”

The devices in the bedrooms can easily cut them to bedtime, whether your teenager leads to closing their eyes to continue passing through social media or that the notification sounds continue to wake up, Research shows.

More than two thirds of the polls surveyed Through logical media in 2023 was reported in sleep loss “sometimes” or “often” due to the use of phones or other devices late at night in their bedrooms. In general, 77 % of adolescents get an insufficient amount of sleep, According to the data One of the United States centers to control and prevent diseases.

“Not getting enough sleep is a dangerous factor for everything that we would like to avoid our children, from disease to feeling depressed,” she wrote in her book.

Looking at the screens in the bed Connected to higher rates One of the mental and physical health issues for adults, too. But healthy sleep habits are more important for children, because their brains are still developing. Sleep can help enable them Cognitive development and mental healthIncluding their ability to learn and organize their emotions – The features they will need To develop to grow and become happy, healthy and successful.

“If you can do only one thing, it may end (this rule) to make the biggest difference.”

Be honest, but firm

She says any of the TWENGE bases is likely to resist from children, especially teenagers who already use their smartphones and other devices at all times of the day. You can implement these types of policies and apply them more easily by connecting them to your children at an early age, as you recommend.

Teenge recommends talking about smartphone risks – and the need for strict rules about their use – just by primary school. “Children get these devices smaller and younger,” she says, and your child may have already used the connected devices in that era, she says.

Parents of older children can also retreat and set new tougher rules. This is what Twenge did with her three teenage daughters, after starting them at first using their own laptops overnight, she says. She adds: “Performing strict rules may be an easy effect:” The first few days may be difficult, and you may get some engraved doors. “

Its advice is to be transparent, but firm, about the process of your decision. “You must be honest with your son (and say), see, you have made a mistake. I know now more, you have learned more, and we will do it differently.