Monthly Archives: April 2019

Take the Hack Challenge

2022-09-19T19:00:43+00:00

Controlling screen time for children and teens is harder than it sounds. This week Screenagers gives some "hacks" to decrease time on screens - are you up for the challenge? Which hacks decrease undesired screen time? This is the question to ask kids and teens this week. From that discussion, see if they, ideally along with you, will choose to adopt one of these ideas for 24 or even 72 hours. It’s a Hack Challenge—and who doesn’t like a challenge? I say “ideally along with you” because we are all in this together. But just because we all have challenges around managing screen time does not mean that as parents we should take a hands-off approach. I hear people say about kids that ”They just need to learn by themselves to manage screen time.” The [...]

Take the Hack Challenge2022-09-19T19:00:43+00:00

Screens and Meals – From babies to adults, mealtime should be screen-free

2022-09-19T19:03:09+00:00

Screens are quickly taking over every aspect of daily life, and are already replacing regular interpersonal communication, but the rise of screens at mealtimes is particularly disturbing. In the article below, written by Cris Rowan, the benefits of screen-free mealtimes is explored in depth. The evening meal is traditionally recognized as a social occasion involving family members, a table/chairs, and a home cooked dinner. When I was a child, dinners involved my two brothers and I suffering through an hour-long event where we had to listen to my father go on and on about work issues which were totally unrelated to us. I did though look forward to our family dinner ritual where each of us got to relay one good thing and one bad thing that happened to us that day…and we weren’t allowed [...]

Screens and Meals – From babies to adults, mealtime should be screen-free2022-09-19T19:03:09+00:00

‘Fortnite’ may be a virtual game, but it’s having real-life, dangerous effects

2022-09-19T19:03:54+00:00

Currently, Fortnite is all the rage among children and adolescents who play video games. But more and more we’re finding that it is having negative, sometime dangerous effects in their lives. The following article, by Beth Teitell and published in the Boston Globe gives more insight. “They are not sleeping. They are not going to school. They are dropping out of social activities. A lot of kids have stopped playing sports so they can do this.” Michael Rich, a pediatrician and director of the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders at Boston Children’s Hospital, was talking about the impact “Fortnite: Battle Royale” — a cartoonish multiplayer shooter game — is having on kids, mainly boys, some still in grade school. “We have one kid who destroyed the family car because he thought his parents [...]

‘Fortnite’ may be a virtual game, but it’s having real-life, dangerous effects2022-09-19T19:03:54+00:00
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