Tweens and Teens: Managing Tech & Mental Health

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Do you worry about the impacts that screen time, social media, or gaming have on your tween and teens' mental health? We spoke to Brittany Anderson, an author, certified play and narrative intelligence practitioner, and the founder of Renala, which helps families become creative, vision-driven leaders—beginning at home.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What are the most common concerns that parents and caregivers have about their tween or teen’s tech use?
• Are those concerns more about the amount of time kids spend on devices, the content they’re seeking out, or the content they stumble upon?
• What are the differences in concerns between parents of pre-teens/tweens (11–13) and older teens (16–18)?
• What does current research say about how much screen time is considered healthy—or at least not harmful—for our tweens and teens? 
  • Is the amount of time as important as how that time is being spent?
  • Are there particular times of day when device use is more problematic for mental health (e.g., late at night)?
• What types of online content are most worrisome for the tweens and teens in our homes?
• What mental health effects are we seeing most often in tweens and teens related to tech use? 
• What are the symptoms of mental health that parents and caregivers should look for?
• Why might kids with a history of trauma and loss, prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs, or neurodiversity be more vulnerable to tech-related mental health challenges?
• How do issues like attachment, identity, and resilience intersect with device use?
• Are there specific risks associated with online relationships, gaming communities, or social media for these children?
• What can adoptive and foster parents, as well as caregivers such as grandparents raising their grandchildren, do proactively to reduce some of these risks before problems arise?
• What role do boundaries, monitoring, and co-viewing/co-playing have in prevention?
• How can they help their child develop self-protective, self-regulation skills, such as learning to prioritize their own mental health and manage their device use? 
• If a tween or teen has already had a harmful tech-related experience, what steps should parents/caregivers take immediately? 
• What does a healthy “tech culture” in a home look like for tweens and teens? 
• One piece of equipping and empowering advice for leading with purpose and mission around the issues of technology, devices, and tweens’ and teens’ mental health

RESOURCES:

• Managing Technology and Screens
• What Resource Parents Should Know About Prenatal Exposure
• How to Cu

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