Are some types of screen time worse than others?
That鈥檚 what I wanted to know as a researcher and parent. Here鈥檚 something I wrote about the topic for as a :
鈥淒ad, can I text my friends on your phone?鈥� asked our 12-year-old for what seemed like the hundredth time. We had resisted getting our daughter her own cellphone, but now that we were moving鈥攖o a house a mile from the closest bus stop鈥攊t was time.
Then came the more difficult part: We had to decide what we would allow her to do on her phone. Are some types of screen time worse than others?
A few years ago, my colleagues and I tried to answer that question. After , we found that general internet use and social media were more strongly linked to depression than playing games or watching videos was.
In other words, not all screen time is created equal. That makes the job of parents a little easier: You don鈥檛 have to cut your child off from technology completely. Playing video games with friends, for example, allows kids to interact with each other and is fine as long as it鈥檚 kept to a few hours a day or less.
Instead, focus on postponing or limiting social media, with all of its pressures, comparisons, and addictive algorithms. Under the 1998 federal law known as COPPA (Children鈥檚 Online Privacy Protection Act), children are not allowed to have a social media account until they are 13 years old. Because social media apps were designed for adults, not young teens, it might be even better to postpone social media use until age 16 or later.
For our 12-year-old, we ended up getting a Gabb phone, which allows texts and calls but no internet or social media. Our goal is not to keep our children from screens, but to be thoughtful about managing their exposure.
顿辞苍鈥檛 assume that all screen time is created equal.
Do restrict kids鈥� and teens鈥� access to social media, especially TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. Consider limiting older teens鈥� use of social media by using parental control settings, and make sure their phones aren鈥檛 in their bedroom overnight. If their friends want to know why they didn鈥檛 comment on their Instagram post at 2 a.m., your well-rested and happier teen can blame mom or dad.
