Ep. 84: Contain Your Teen’s Tech

<p><br>Did you know the average teenager spends over <em>seven hours a day</em> in front of a screen? And that doesn’t including mandatory screen time for homework, Zoom classes, and Google Classroom assignments! Teens spend an average seven hours on entertainment screen-time: video games, apps, social media, YouTube, aimlessly browsing the web. Passive entertainment is taking up more and more of teens’ free time every day, with some research estimating teens spend as much as 40% of their life in front of a screen.</p><p>This is a worrisome statistic for parents--and anyone invested in the next generation! The teenage years are critical for cognitive brain development, forming positive relationships, and practicing social skills; oversaturating the teen brain with technology can have lasting negative effects. But considering how social media and other screen-based activities play a major role in the modern teen social scene—especially now that COVID-19 has suspended in-person activities in most parts of the country—parents have to walk a fine line when it comes to their teens’ technology. How much screen time is appropriate? What should parents do to balance phone and TV time with other important activities? What happens if a teenager becomes entirely too invested in their online life, staying up hours into the night playing video games, Snapchatting, or scrolling through Instagram?</p><p>This week, I spoke with expert Joshua Wayne, author of <a href="https://amzn.to/2YRyF9k"><em>The Simple Parenting Guide to Technology</em></a>. Wayne’s book provides parents with incredibly practical ways to approach screen time in their homes, and with COVID-19 spurring a massive increase in social media use and virtual connectivity, his perspective is more valuable now than ever! </p><p><br>Wayne knows that technology is here to stay, and fighting for zero screen time is not only futile but unrealistic. In our interview, Wayne explains how a technology agreement can set guidelines for use in the family (and how to imp