Kids spending too much time on smartphones? 3 tips to reclaim your child’s focus

One of the major concerns for parents is the increasing screen time among children. A recent report by the National Poll on Children’s Health by the C S Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan states that 83 per cent of parents think their kids’ mental health is impacted due to screens.

While 66 per cent specifically mention internet safety, 75 per cent of respondents cite social media and overall gadget use as significant issues for young people in the United States.

Catherine Price, a health and science journalist with a 10-year-old daughter, told CNBC that she feels that children are not developing real-world skills, nor are they having real-world relationships or real-world experiences, for every minute they spend in front of screens.

Price has collaborated with author Jonathan Haidt of ‘The Anxious Generation’ to develop a book about tweens’ use of screens and social media. Titled ‘The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World’, she offers some advice to parents who wish to limit their children’s usage of electronics.

While the tips are grounded in the research done on children and teens in the US, they have universal applicability, considering the growing screen time worldwide.

“It’ll be easier to limit your kids’ screentime if they see you trying to work on your own habits, too,” Price says.

Experts believe that the most important way to shape your children is to model the behaviour you want them to display.

Theo Wolf, a writer and educator, recently wrote for CNBC Make It, “Consider the person you want your child to become. “Ask yourself: Am I demonstrating those traits in front of them? Is there anything I’m doing that opposes the values I want to pass on?”

If you spend too much time on your computer or phone, you can even urge your children to hold you responsible.

Have a few family phones instead of giving each child their own.

Price advises giving kids a landline and encouraging them to use it to talk to friends or check in with grandparents to help them develop their conversational abilities.

For after-school activities or while they’re visiting a friend, you can also have a family flip phone. “They take it, they use it, they give it back,” she says.

Price supports delaying the purchase of a smartphone for children until they are at least 16 years old, as recommended by psychologist Jean Twenge.

However, you might insist that they pay for their smartphone themselves if you want to delay it any further. “They probably won’t get one until they are 25,” she says, if they are aware that they are financially responsible for it.

She adds that it might “teach a lot of important lessons about working hard towards a goal.”