Teens and Technology

In today’s society, teens are inundated with gadgets. Most teenagers would probably admit their days are filled with text messaging friends, talking on their cell phones, playing electronic games, listening to MP3 players, blogging on MySpace, watching television, surfing the Internet or doing any number of other activities involving media technology. These activities aren’t necessarily bad things but can cause problems when done in excess.

Unfortunately, most of these electronic activities increase a teen’s inactive behavior, lessen their opportunity to have face-to-face relationship building time and can run up some pretty significant bills for mom and dad. Parents can help their children limit their techno cravings and reduce monthly cost by cutting back the use of too many gadgets.

• Have your child earn time to use electronic gadgets by doing extra chores and/or engaging in fun, mobile activities.
• Limit the times when gadgets can be used such as having a “no gadgets” rule after a certain curfew or not using gadgets during school or family time.
• Connect the use of electronic gadgets to your child’s ability to be responsible and respectful. For example, keeping their bedroom clean, helping siblings and being considerate could earn extra time on the home computer or X-box.

Some parents feel they cannot limit their child’s use of electronic gadgets for many reasons. Perhaps the electronic device is being used to keep track of a teen’s whereabouts, the item was a gift, the teen bought the gadget himself or parents say they feel hypocritical because they are modeling the very behavior they’re asking their kids to stop doing. Still, these technological concerns should not hinder a parent from helping their child learn and grow when it comes to media madness.

Source: Parenting.org

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