Teen Social Media Use

Your Teen Can’t See How Screens & Social Media Are Affecting Them

Many parents would like to reign in their teen’s social media use. Appealing to your kid’s ability to see the bigger picture about how social media affects their physical or mental health is unlikely to work. The odds are you’re not going to make them understand “responsible” social media use by reason alone. 

The human brain doesn’t fully develop until age 25. It’s not realistic to expect teens to understand cause and effect the way you do as an adult. Your teen is going to have a hard time recognizing how what they want in the immediate is affecting them in the long term.

Make Boundaries With Your Kids

Parents who want to limit their teen’s social media use need to step in and set boundaries not for their kids, but with their kids. This means that at a calm time (not in the heat of the moment) you need to sit down with your kid and work it out. Talk to them about setting boundaries, and get them involved in the solution. Perhaps the best thing parents can do is set the right example. If you want your kid to be off social media at a certain time, you have to do the same! Screens and social media are a huge issue for families, and we talk about in this Tips on Teens:

“Any tips on how I can control my teen from getting into instant messaging and social media sites? I could block all those sites, but I don’t want to do that. I really want my daughter to use them responsibly only when she needs it but she keeps misusing that access. She spends too much time on Discord and then keeps working on homework until early morning every single day. It is spoiling her health and mine too. I don’t know how to make her understand how her habits are hurting her.”