Let me start with an anxiety analogy.
I think of a pair of fraternal twin sisters. One of these sisters is named Conscientious, and the other is named Anxiety. Anxiety’s given name at birth was Fear, but she decided it was too common, and Anxiety sounded sassier.
These two sisters are adults, and they are parents of teenagers.
Now here is the particular scenario.
These sisters, who live together, enter their living room, where each of their teens is sitting on the couch. The teens were supposed to be setting the table for dinner.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
The sisters have been calling the teens from the kitchen to come and help them to no avail.
When the two sisters get to the living room, a decision has to be made. Will Conscientious handle the situation, or will Anxiety?
Conscientious is gifted in being able to see situations from many perspectives and clever in being able to think through different scenarios before acting.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is singularly focused — laser-like. Anxiety approaches situations reflexively.
The question these two sisters must decide at that doorway is who will step over the line into the room and attend to this situation with the teens, Consciousness or Anxiety?
When Anxiety takes the lead, this can be a real problem. First of all, she is contagious, so others absorb her negativity. Another issue is she is not very effective. She gets the job done in the short run but rarely has made real progress toward lasting change.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
How to prevent Anxiety from monopolizing the interaction:
Writing a list is therapeutic in itself (because it takes the abstract and makes it a bit organized), and it can help a person get into a calmer mental state, promoting better problem-solving. In Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER, relationship researchers John and Julie Gottman help explain why this is the case from a biological perspective.
Questions to get the conversations started:
Here is a video from the Screenagers YouTube Channel that talks more about this subject
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Let me start with an anxiety analogy.
I think of a pair of fraternal twin sisters. One of these sisters is named Conscientious, and the other is named Anxiety. Anxiety’s given name at birth was Fear, but she decided it was too common, and Anxiety sounded sassier.
These two sisters are adults, and they are parents of teenagers.
Now here is the particular scenario.
These sisters, who live together, enter their living room, where each of their teens is sitting on the couch. The teens were supposed to be setting the table for dinner.
The sisters have been calling the teens from the kitchen to come and help them to no avail.
When the two sisters get to the living room, a decision has to be made. Will Conscientious handle the situation, or will Anxiety?
Conscientious is gifted in being able to see situations from many perspectives and clever in being able to think through different scenarios before acting.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is singularly focused — laser-like. Anxiety approaches situations reflexively.
The question these two sisters must decide at that doorway is who will step over the line into the room and attend to this situation with the teens, Consciousness or Anxiety?
When Anxiety takes the lead, this can be a real problem. First of all, she is contagious, so others absorb her negativity. Another issue is she is not very effective. She gets the job done in the short run but rarely has made real progress toward lasting change.
How to prevent Anxiety from monopolizing the interaction:
Writing a list is therapeutic in itself (because it takes the abstract and makes it a bit organized), and it can help a person get into a calmer mental state, promoting better problem-solving. In Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER, relationship researchers John and Julie Gottman help explain why this is the case from a biological perspective.
Questions to get the conversations started:
Here is a video from the Screenagers YouTube Channel that talks more about this subject
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Let me start with an anxiety analogy.
I think of a pair of fraternal twin sisters. One of these sisters is named Conscientious, and the other is named Anxiety. Anxiety’s given name at birth was Fear, but she decided it was too common, and Anxiety sounded sassier.
These two sisters are adults, and they are parents of teenagers.
Now here is the particular scenario.
These sisters, who live together, enter their living room, where each of their teens is sitting on the couch. The teens were supposed to be setting the table for dinner.
Many adults keep their phones by the bed — it feels harmless, even necessary. But what if that habit is quietly affecting our sleep and the example we set for our kids? In this week’s blog, Dr. Ruston shares two key things every parent should know about sleeping next to a phone, and how small nighttime tech changes can make a big difference for the whole family.
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From Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto to violence and gunfire in movies and shows, aggression is a constant backdrop in boys’ media diets. And with various influencers and online personalities framing success through the lens of strength, competition, dominance and winning, boys are being handed a narrow script for masculinity. As parents, one of the most important things we can do is offer a counterweight. We can help boys strengthen empathy, compassion, and respect as core traits of masculinity, so they have a broader, healthier vision of who they can become.
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Last week we introduced you to our Screen-Free Sleep campaign! Since then, we’ve been flooded with emails and calls, and most are asking the same question: How can we get this spreading in our school? Today’s blog has the answers.
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.
