Solving Screen Time Headaches

Ally Bremer
May 17
3 min read

If you’re a parent, you probably saw the title of this blog and were intrigued! I spend a lot of time in sessions walking with kids and parents about screen time. Whether it’s trying to figure out how to limit screen time, how to avoid fights about it, or how to manage the pressure when your kid says “ all of my friends have phones, why can’t I?” Let’s talk about screens and the issues that come along with them.

What’s the risk?

There’s a TON of research out there about screen time, social media, video games, and the internet and how these things affect kids and their development. And, like many other areas of research, there’s a wide range of findings and data. I couldn’t possibly cover everything here in this blog, but let’s talk about the biggest concerns I see in my sessions.

• Addiction and/or over-use

This is one of the most common concerns I see with parents and caregivers, especially with kids who are neurodivergent or have other mental health struggles. This concern is understandable for anyone as social media and video games are designed to get you hooked and keep you engaged. Most of us have probably found ourselves on a social media spiral and resurfaced an hour later thinking it’s only been 10 minutes. It’s easy to see how this happens, but it’s extra concerning as kids already have fewer self control skills so the addictive design and low self-control are a double whammy. Screens and video games can also help numb from anxiety or depression or distract from other problems we need to be facing which can quickly turn into using screens for coping.

• Lack of social connection

While it is true that many video games and social media involve some level of connection with others, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that that connection is nothing like face-to-face social interaction. Social media can be great to keep in touch with long-distance friends and relatives, but it doesn’t replace real life social interaction. Same goes for video games- it’s great to get online and play a game with your friends every now and then. When online interactions become the only social interactions someone has, it can lead to full blown isolation quite quickly.

• Inability to disengage

If you’re a parent, you’ve had the arguments with your child where you ask them to get off their screen to do chores or get ready for bed and you return to the room 10 minutes later to find them still playing their game. And, if you’re like most parents, this sends your anger meter from cool as a cucumber to red hot lava faster than you can say “turn it off!” These arguments cause stress and tension in most homes. And let’s face it, parenting is hard enough, who needs more stress and tension?

• Lack of interest in other activities

I’ve talked with a lot of parents regarding concerns that their child doesn’t seem to be interested in doing other activities like playing sports, reading books, doing puzzles, playing games with the family, etc. This is understandably concerning as we all know it is important to have a variety of interests and hobbies that fill our time. It’s challenging to direct your children to other activities when the pull of games and screens is so strong.

This is only a short summary of the concerns I frequently talk about with parents and families. In the next blog, we will discuss strategies we can use to address screen time issues. Stay tuned!