TEENAGERS THINK THEIR PARENTS ARE ADDICTED TO MOBILE PHONES, A BAD EXAMPLE THAT MAKES FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS DIFFICULT

We try to limit the time of use of mobile devices in our children. But what do we do? Do we give you a good example on this topic?

The latest study by the Common Sense Media organization 'The new reality: Parents, teenagers, screens and the dream, 2019', seems to indicate that we are losing control. Moreover, 'our vice' has grown compared to a similar investigation carried out by the same organization in 2016. Adults recognize who spend too much time with their devices, get more distracted and they do not always give the example of a healthy use of the mobile. Y their teenage children They go beyond: They think their parents are addicted to cell phones, which has a negative impact on their family relationships.

Addiction and less family time

The study surveyed a thousand parents and adolescents to know the impact of the use of the devices on family time, relationships and sleep. It shows that our children may be following our example, especially in key areas that affect health and relationships, such as using devices before going to sleep, and during sleep time, and allowing them to be a distraction that prevents us from relating in depth.

The number of parents who say they spend too much time on their mobile devices has increased by 23 points since 2016 and thirty-eight percent of teenagers think their parents are addicted to their mobile device, 10 points more than in 2016.

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And it is that according to the latest studies, 70% of children between 10 and 14 years have mobile. In addition, teenagers and their parents spend approximately the same amount of time (about 90 minutes) using mobile devices when they are together.

But not everything is negative. The researchers themselves say that we are entering a new era of resistance against companies whose business models are based on what critics of the industry call "the attention economy." And we are beginning to see some step towards that change, according to Common Sense:

There is increasing awareness, even among teenagers, that applications manipulate them so they spend more time online.
Control agencies are making warnings to developers regarding the techniques that keep us hooked on games, social networks and applications for much longer than we know is good for us.
Social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, are incorporating “digital well-being” functions, such as usage reports, notifications that remind us to take a break and activity timers.
Apple and Google are adding adjustments to their operating systems that give us more control over the use of our devices.

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But it is also true that studies on how technology explain that it affects health and behavior, in aspects such as sleep, addiction and mental well-being. But none is conclusive, so it seems that we are still far from learning to use mobile devices well, both adults and children.

So reading this study, in my humble opinion, would be that parents are misusing the screens, which translates into a bad example for our children, without being often aware of this. How are we going to manage to control their time in front of the screens if we spend family time consulting the mobile instead of talking to them? Let's start today.

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