Why It May Be Time for a Digital Health Checkup for Your Kids

But what about healthy digital habits? From video games, to social media, to school work, kids are spending a lot of time on their screens. While there are plenty of positive aspects to having online access, too much of anything is never a good thing. In fact, a recent study found that excessive social media and video game use may lead to poorer sleep, cyberbullying, feelings of anxiety and depression, body-image concerns, and beyond.

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For those reasons and more, a digital health checkup for your kids may be in order. Here are some real concerns to keep in mind, as well as some ways to protect your kids:

• Have the cyberbullying talk. Good or bad, other kids can have a tremendous influence on your child. Even as adults we’ve encountered social media trolls that hide behind their screens, picking fights, slinging mud, and passing judgement without any recourse. Your kids see it, too. Open up a dialogue about whether they’ve experienced cyberbullying (or in some cases, inflicted it on others) and have a long discussion about the toll that can take. Even though the online world sometimes feels different from the real world, what we see or say can still leave a real and lasting mark.
• Make sleep a priority. Too much screen time isn’t good for anybody. Aside from wasting away hours that should’ve been spent sleeping, things like exposure to the blue light on the devices themselves can slow the natural production of a hormone called melatonin in our bodies, disrupting sleep patterns. Bottom line: It makes you less drowsy than usual at night, and it takes you longer to fall asleep. In addition, social media apps are algorithmically designed to feed serotonin as we scroll, so we’re being fed a tiny bit of adrenaline, which also keeps us awake longer. Make sure your kids turn off their smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets about two to three hours before bedtime, and encourage the use of ‘night mode’ to dim the brightness. You may even want to invest a few dollars in blue-light-blocking glasses, which you can find easily online.
• Know that your kids can’t unsee stuff. Kids don’t necessarily need to be looking for trouble in order to find it. Unfortunately, it’s very easy for them to stumble onto inappropriate content, or have creepy stranger encounters just about anywhere online, whether they’re playing games, or just talking to what appears to be a ‘nice kid’ they met through a friend. Talk to them often about their online interactions and be sure to use a simple family app that lets you create age-appropriate content filters and set screen-time limits across every device they use—from their phones and tablets, to their laptops and gaming consoles. A good safety app will also send you easy-to-digest reports that outline your kids’ weekly activity across all of their apps, games, and devices—opening up opportunities for a healthy digital dialogue between you and your family.
• Make rules. You’re the parent and it’s critical that you have certain rules to promote digital safety and protect your kids. While it may come as a shock, two-thirds of teens actually think parental controls are a good thing. Not only do they take the pressure off them (“Sorry, guys, I can’t use Instagram on school nights”) they realize the rules actually help protect them from certain content. Giving kids free range on their smartphones, tablets, video game consoles, and whatever else you have can be dangerous. Set those time limits and rules and stick to them. Of course, you should always offer a little flexibility (e.g., increasing video game limits during summer break or long road trips). A good family app should be customizable enough to let you adjust these limits, as needed. Some even let your kids request more time via email when their time is up—which you can approve or deny.
• Know that what happens on the web, stays on the web—forever. Kids often don’t realize that a brief online interaction, comment, uploaded photo, shared post, or a simple “like” or “heart” can come back to haunt them many years down the road. Even after those seemingly innocent posts are long forgotten by them—they can resurface when they least expect it. Help your child understand that these things can rear their ugly heads throughout their lives when job hunting, for example, or applying for college, getting involved in politics, and beyond. It’s also important to demonstrate this using some real-life examples, which shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Digital checkups just may be as important as doctor’s visits to your child’s wellbeing. So, be sure to use any tools at hand to make your job easier, while also modeling good digital habits, and keeping an open, honest dialog with your kids.