Two weeks ago, I attended a conference for middle and high school principals in Minnesota. It was a great week of meeting new contacts and learning about best practices in education. While I could write summaries of the sessions I attended on cyber security, teaching kindness, best practices in restorative discipline, and many other topics, one issue continued to come up over and over again: the challenges of cell phones in schools.
The more we as middle and high school administrators discussed all the implications and challenges of cell phones, the more we discussed our own families’ personal use of the phone. I will save the discussion for cell phones in schools and the distractions to learning they create for a later date, but here is a question worth asking: Do we have our own cell phone policy at home?
On average, young people from the ages of 13 to 19 spend two and a half hours per day on social media sites. Not two and a half hours on cell phones themselves, but interacting on social media sites daily. The average use of time on the cell phone is much, much higher than that. Further, the average teenager is now in front of a digital screen of some kind nine and a half hours per day. No, you did not read that incorrectly…. nine and a half hours!
We are also learning that the young people of this generation are some of the most sleep-deprived individuals in human history. Why? Because they are sleeping with their phones. Texts, notifications, and social media alerts are keeping our young people up at alarming rates.
If we played the averages, we would understand that our young people are sleeping approximately six hours per night, in front of a screen of some kind for nine and half hours, and then have eight and half hours left over for the rest of their day. Our teenagers are spending more time in front of a screen than not during their conscious hours of the day.
So, as parents and guardians, what are some things we can do to help our young people learn about appropriate cell phone use? Here are a few suggestions: 1. Place a time limit on your son/daughter’s phone or device. Our family policy is 30 minutes per day.
You may find that too restrictive, but know that whatever limit you agree to, it will be tested! 2. Have your teenager/young person turn their phone into a central location each night one hour before they go to bed. This gives their brain 60 minutes to relax before bed and it also keeps their devices out of their rooms where they can interrupt sleep. 3. Help your kids engage in activities and hobbies that do not require a device. This helps them learn balance and an appreciation for true face-to-face human dialogue.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers and my family struggles with finding balance just as any other family. I know we are safely under the nine and half hour screen time average, but we still have work to do with defining limits and what is appropriate.
Our greatest challenge is in monitoring the unfiltered access that cell phones and devices give our kids to explore media and content that we don’t approve of. I encourage you as families, parents, and individuals to think about creating your own cell phone policy.
It might be as simple as no cell phones when eating out with a friend. It may mean getting one of the many new apps or your phone to monitor your son/ daughter’s cell phone usage, or it might be far more complex than that.
There is great power in giving a young person a hand-held device that is a computer, phone, and television all in one. For your own personal health, and for those in your family, creating a cell policy is an activity worth exploring.
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