With 2017 on the horizon, the last few days of 2016 are resolution season. Are you considering making some positive life changes? Great, me too.
But how can we make the changes stick…for real this time?
In my twenty years as a physician I have witnessed and experienced how hard it is to actually make a behavior change, no matter how compelling the reason. Even in the face of chronic obstructive lung disease, patients with years of tobacco use try to to quit and don’t always succeed. A person with diabetes can find it so hard to control eating habits, even though it’s a life and death matter.
My primary care experience has taught me that I must start with understanding a person’s readiness to change: Do they really want to? Why? Why not?
The same is true for changing behavior around screen use. Let’s say a teen wants, and even recognizes he needs, to decrease video game playing time Monday through Thursday. Start with the ‘why’: Why would this be a good change to make? What are the challenges or downsides? Lay these thoughts out proactively before making an action plan.
Another key component to success is picking one goal at a time. Define the goal with specifics around what success looks like. When parents say their approach to getting their kids to reduce their screen time is to simply model better use of their own screen time, I get worried. Having a goal like that is vague, and it is unclear how you will know whether you’ve achieved it.
Based on one of my favorite simple books — Living Smart by Joshua C. Klapow — I think this is a great model for change:
S = Set goal
M = Monitor progress, like noting on a calendar each time you succeed
A = Arrange for success, like putting the video game controller out of sight during the week
R = Recruit people to help, like finding a friend who is also cutting back on video game time
T = Treat. (My favorite part!) Choose something that’s a personal reward you value, like having a special dessert or movie tickets or something else from the teen wish list.
Questions to get you started for this week's Tech Talk Tuesday:
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
With 2017 on the horizon, the last few days of 2016 are resolution season. Are you considering making some positive life changes? Great, me too.
But how can we make the changes stick…for real this time?
In my twenty years as a physician I have witnessed and experienced how hard it is to actually make a behavior change, no matter how compelling the reason. Even in the face of chronic obstructive lung disease, patients with years of tobacco use try to to quit and don’t always succeed. A person with diabetes can find it so hard to control eating habits, even though it’s a life and death matter.
My primary care experience has taught me that I must start with understanding a person’s readiness to change: Do they really want to? Why? Why not?
The same is true for changing behavior around screen use. Let’s say a teen wants, and even recognizes he needs, to decrease video game playing time Monday through Thursday. Start with the ‘why’: Why would this be a good change to make? What are the challenges or downsides? Lay these thoughts out proactively before making an action plan.
Another key component to success is picking one goal at a time. Define the goal with specifics around what success looks like. When parents say their approach to getting their kids to reduce their screen time is to simply model better use of their own screen time, I get worried. Having a goal like that is vague, and it is unclear how you will know whether you’ve achieved it.
Based on one of my favorite simple books — Living Smart by Joshua C. Klapow — I think this is a great model for change:
S = Set goal
M = Monitor progress, like noting on a calendar each time you succeed
A = Arrange for success, like putting the video game controller out of sight during the week
R = Recruit people to help, like finding a friend who is also cutting back on video game time
T = Treat. (My favorite part!) Choose something that’s a personal reward you value, like having a special dessert or movie tickets or something else from the teen wish list.
Questions to get you started for this week's Tech Talk Tuesday:
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
The Pew Research Center recently released findings from a study conducted in the Fall of 2023, which has important stats that can help inform our parenting and spark essential conversations with our youth. I’ve structured today’s blog to state the findings first and then write about the solutions later.
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I have one goal with this week’s blog: Inspire you to make one and only one New Year’s Resolution about screen time rules. Maybe that has to do with your own behavior with screen time, maybe with your kids, family, or even work. And I’ll share with you my one-screen time rule for 2024.
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A few weeks ago I wrote a blog and encouraged people to share with youth in their lives whatever small change they made and to share with me as well so that I could share with you! And that is what I am doing today. I received some great responses. Here are a few examples people shared with me:
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
