We frequently read those startling statistics regarding the number of hours that teens spend with their eyes glued to their computer screens, phones, or television. But a recent study reported that parents might have a lot more in common with their teens than you might imagine.
“Common Sense Media,” a nonprofit organization, found that parents spend, on average, 8 hours per day connected to screen based media. While you might not find that alarming since many of us spend time on our computers for work purposes, they found that only 90 minutes of that 8 hours was for work. The rest of the time was for what was termed “personal screen media.”
While two-thirds of parents indicated that monitoring their children’s screen time was important to them, most were unaware of their own obsession with their screens, nor were they aware of the impact their modeling was having on their kids. As a result, there are some important “take a ways” for us as adults:
- Our children are learning what is important by watching how we spend our time
- As we disengage from real face to face engagement, our children do so as well
- Our children learn about marital relating from what we model
So, today, before you grab your phone for the 200th time to check email, text, Facebook, Twitter, or some other social media forum, ask yourself – “What am I modeling for my family?” As well as, “When I engage with this screen, will those around me feel more or less important?” Answering these may lead to a shift in our priorities.