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Spring Connections 2017

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Being the Brave Parent<br />

TACKLING THE THORNY ISSUE OF SCREEN<br />

TIME WITHOUT FEAR.<br />

makes good sense, but it is even<br />

probably imagine, this risk<br />

more important to guide what<br />

they are doing with those<br />

increases as the children get<br />

older. Beyond video games,<br />

2<br />

BY HOLLY NOVICK<br />

Our world is awash in<br />

technology, and as parents, it is<br />

all too easy to feel overwhelmed<br />

by the task of keeping our<br />

children digitally safe. We are all<br />

busier than we should be, and<br />

the allure of the iPad babysitter is<br />

sometimes too much to resist. As<br />

our children grow older, we face<br />

comparisons to other families:<br />

“So-and-so’s mom lets her watch<br />

YouTube!” In those moments, it<br />

takes guts to do the right thing<br />

instead of the easy thing, but our<br />

children will thank us (eventually)<br />

if we lean in and pay close<br />

attention to what they are doing<br />

online and keep their screen<br />

content appropriate and safe.<br />

The American Academy of<br />

Pediatrics released new<br />

guidelines this year with smart<br />

limits for the amount of time<br />

children should be spending<br />

interacting with screens. The<br />

guidelines are straightforward:<br />

no screen time at all for children<br />

age 0-18 months, one hour per<br />

day for children age 2-5 years,<br />

and limited digital media for age<br />

6 and up. Limiting the amount of<br />

time children spend on cell<br />

phones, tablets, and computers<br />

minutes.<br />

This is a vital matter of quality<br />

vs. quantity. While we would<br />

much prefer to ignore it, the truth<br />

is that the internet can get really<br />

dark, really fast. It’s important to<br />

understand just how easy it is for<br />

children to see content that they<br />

are not emotionally or physically<br />

ready for. Here are a few<br />

sobering facts:<br />

Sexual Content. When it<br />

comes to sexual content,<br />

Psychology Today reports that<br />

“children as young as 8” are<br />

encountering inappropriate adult<br />

content on the web. It has also<br />

been demonstrated that the<br />

unfortunate normalization of<br />

such content is changing early<br />

romantic relationship dynamics<br />

and expectations in<br />

psychologically unhealthy ways<br />

(American College of<br />

Pediatricians).<br />

Violence. Time Health<br />

reports that “approximately 90%<br />

of children in the U.S. play video<br />

games, and more than 90% of<br />

those games involve mature<br />

content that often includes<br />

violence.” The age range for this<br />

percentage is truly telling: 2-17<br />

years old. The risk for exposure<br />

to negative behavior models,<br />

anything from bullying to murder,<br />

is too high to ignore. As you can<br />

violence has become a regular<br />

feature in television programming<br />

as well, and easily accessible<br />

through YouTube and Netflix.<br />

Dangerous behaviors.<br />

Did you know that 15-20% of<br />

U.S. kids intentionally inflict pain<br />

on their bodies? According to the<br />

American Academy of Pediatrics,<br />

the most common age is 12-17,<br />

but it can start as young as 7.<br />

There are self-harm clubs at<br />

schools and online, too, turning<br />

the behavior into a way to<br />

connect with others, to belong<br />

(New York Times).<br />

Adolescence is frequently<br />

when children first experiment<br />

with alcohol, tobacco, and other<br />

drugs, with nearly half of U.S.<br />

high school students regularly<br />

use one or more of these<br />

substances (CBS News). When<br />

combined with the fact that 90%<br />

of U.S. adults struggling with<br />

addiction began using substances<br />

before age 18, this becomes<br />

more than the “everybody tries it<br />

once” phenomenon (U.S. News<br />

and World Report). The majority<br />

of teen social interaction is<br />

electronic now, which means<br />

careful monitoring of texts and<br />

app use will often alert parents if<br />

their child is trying something<br />

dangerous.

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