"Screen Time"

"Devices are divisive." I heard this phrase recently and it caught my attention. We live in a world full of devices so we definitely have to deal with them, but I think we need to have an intentional plan around them especially for children or they can easily become divisive.

In the book, Screen Kids, 5 Skills Every Child Needs in a Tech-Driven World, the suggestion is be sure that you have time and spaces without devices. A great example of this is meal time. Make sure this is a time that you look at your children and listen to them without any devices around. So that includes parents and children. Look at it as building relationship time, talk time, and time to just be together without distractions.

What amount of time is your child spending on devices? What amount of time are you spending on devices? Research shows that children are not having the connection they need with parents and with others because they are occupied with devices. They are learning that my mom's phone is more important than me or my dad spends a lot of time on the computer, so it must be more important than me. I know that is not the message you want to send, but often we don't take the time to assess our time wisely. Pivot from your devise and give your undivided attention to your child.

Social skills come from being social- social media is not very social, TV time, movies are not social. We cannot get physical activity from devices. At least 60 minutes a day should be spent in gross motor activity for children.

Let's do better as models for our children and then set those parameters on their social media time as well.