The Digital Generation

Today, kids are growing up immersed in technology and using it earlier than ever before – there are several apps specifically developed for children 2 to 6 years old. Both kids and adults are also spending more and more time in front of screens.

Technology offers a variety of ways to learn, communicate and entertain, but like everything else, it’s best in moderation. Its overuse has been linked to several problems in adolescents, including sleep and eating disorders, attention problems, lower academic performance, obesity and family dysfunction.

“The infiltration of technology in our lives is often so subtle we don’t notice it,” says Eric S. Perez, M.D., pediatrician at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. “Parents might let a child play on an iPad during dinner to keep him occupied and at the table. They themselves may frequently consult a cell phone during a meal. Soon technology becomes a constant guest at the dinner table, and eventually, no one talks to each other.”

Here’s how to help your kids balance their time online and offline.

Set Limits and Follow Them

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children spend an average of seven hours per day on “entertainment media,” including using social media, watching TV and playing video games. That’s more time than most kids spend in school.

However, at an AAP symposium in 2015, experts concluded the quality of content is much more important than how much time children spend with media. AAP encourages parents to set reasonable limits for tech rather than just setting a timer. You need to gauge whether using technology is helping or blocking your child’s participation in other activities.

AAP also recommends you make time every day to turn off all screens, especially during meals and activities. Try to follow the AAP guidelines and remember it’s critical to lead by example; model online etiquette and limit your own use.

“I’ve had parents texting on their cell phones during their child’s medical appointment with me,” Dr. Perez says, “and I’ve had to ask them to leave the room. No child will take a parent’s rules about technology seriously unless parents model that behavior, too.”

Keep Screens Out of Bedrooms

Set up “screen-free” rooms in your house and pay particular attention to your children’s bedrooms. Sleep deprivation can lead to irritation, obesity and poor concentration, among other problems, Dr. Perez says. To help improve sleep, keep TVs, computers and video games outside bedrooms, and set up cell phone charging stations in another room.

“When a kid leaves a cell phone on a bedside table to charge over night, it’s very difficult for him or her to ignore it when it shows a notification,” Dr. Perez says. “Instant gratification is hard to resist, even at 3 in the morning.”

Teach About the Dangers Online

Many kids don’t take the potential risks of using the Internet seriously, and that is a big challenge parents have to overcome when teaching them about the dangers out there, Dr. Perez says. It’s difficult for a teenager to see how a post on social media today – which will be searchable indefinitely – can cost them a job later in life or put them at risk for sexual abuse.

In addition to privacy concerns, adolescents have an increased risk of being exposed to sexually explicit material, including “sexting,” which is sending a message with sexually explicit pictures. A study published in 2012 found nearly 20 percent of high school students have sent an explicit picture and almost twice as many have received one. More than 25 percent of students that received an explicit picture forwarded it to others, and more than one-third did so despite knowing the legal consequences.

The AAP recommends parents tell younger children with cell phones that text messages should never contain pictures of people – kids or adults – without their clothes on, or kissing or touching in unfamiliar ways. For teens, be very specific. Tell them minors who are arrested for sexting can be prosecuted for distribution of child pornography, which carries consequences that include jail time and sex offender registration.

Encourage Real-World Activities

Dr. Perez recommends making it as easy as possible for kids to interact in person. Drive them to friends’ houses, or make your home the “clubhouse” and feed everyone dinner.

Also, take time to play with your children. “We often live in different orbits than our kids, so it’s important to find things to do together,” Dr. Perez says. And sometimes, technology can actually help.

“Playing non-violent video games like ‘Dance Dance Revolution’ together as a family gets everyone interacting and being active at the same time. It can be a great way to bridge the gap.”