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Many parents are struggling with the idea of giving their children Access to smartphones or other connected devicesS How old should they be when they get their first phone or tablet? What parent controls, if any, should you use?
No matter what you decide, you have to follow a “imperative” rule to help your children grow up in order to be happy, successful adults, says psychologist Jean Twain: “There are no electronic devices in the bedroom overnight.”
“It’s just a situation that has a dispute:” You don’t need this phone in your bedroom when you have to sleep. Period. End of history.10 rules for raising children in a high -tech world“Posted on September 2.
Twage has spent much of the past decade warning parents For the risks of providing young adolescents, unlimited access to smartphones and social media. She is cited Research Connecting their use with higher percentages of mental health problems in teens, including anxiety and depression.
Some other parent and medical experts have issued similar warnings: In 2023, the then surgeon general Vivek dead issued a council Warning that the risks of social media and connected devices have helped, for example, create a “national crisis of mental health of youth,” for example.
In his book Twage, he advocates parents to wait as long as possible before handing over smartphones to their children or to allow them to social media platforms. She recommends preventing children from joining social media for up to 16 years or more and having full access to their own smartphone while they have a driver’s license and are expected to “go around independently”.
But the ban on children’s rooms overnight is its rule # 1 because of its potential to improve its sleep habits, she says. This is “absolutely decisive for both physical and mental health,” she notes in her book.
“If you have the bandwidth to fully follow only one rule in this book, do it,” writes Twage. “No devices in the bedroom overnight are not very clear and costs nothing.”
“Not getting enough sleep is a risk factor”
The devices in the bedrooms can easily be cut into sleep time, whether the teenager postpones to turn off his eyes to continue to scroll on social media or the sounds of notifications continue to wake them up, research showsS
More than two -thirds of the adolescents surveyed from common sense in 2023 reports that sleeping of sleep sometimes or “often” due to the use of phones or other devices late at night in their bedrooms. Overall, 77% of teenagers receive insufficient amount of sleep, According to data from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Not to fall asleep is a risk factor for almost everything we would like to avoid, to get sick to feel depressed,” Twage wrote in his book.
Looking at screens in bed is associated with higher percentages problems with mental and physical health and adults. But healthy sleep habits are even more important for children because their brains are still developing. Sleep can help activate them cognitive development and mental healthincluding their ability to study and regulate their emotions – traits will need them To develop to grow up and to become happy, healthy and successful adults.
“If you can only do one thing, (this rule) can be the biggest difference,” says Twage.
Be honest but hard
Each of the Twage rules is likely to be met with resistance from children, especially teenagers who already use their smartphones and other devices regularly at any time of the day, she says. You can easily apply and implement these types of policies by telling them to your children at an early age, she advises.
Twage recommends that you have conversations about the dangers of smartphones – and the need for strict rules surrounding their use – immediately after elementary school. “Children get these devices more young and younger,” and your child may have friends who already use connected devices at this age, “she says.
Parents of bigger children can also give way to new, more stringent rules. This was done by Twage with her own three teenage daughters after initially allowing them to use their laptops overnight, she says. Creating strict rules is not easy, she adds: “The first few days can be difficult and you may get stuck doors.”
Her advice is to be transparent but firm about the decision -making process. “You have to be honest with your child (and say):” Look, I made a mistake. Now I know more, I learned more and we will do it differently, “says Twage.
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