In the recently published book “The Amazing Generation,” health and science journalist Catherine Price speaks directly to kids and tweens — alerting them to the dangers of excessive smartphone and social media use.
The book, co-written with social psychologist and author of “The Anxious Generation” Jonathan Haidt, is broken up into several parts that include a comic strip and anecdotes from Gen Zers who are working to limit their time on devices.
Their objective, Price says, is to “help kids and adults live meaningful, fulfilling, fun lives.” And one of the best ways to do that is to take on screen-free activities in the real world.
The Anxious Generation Movement encourages parents to play an active role in helping kids shift their focus away from tablets and smartphones. Here, Price offers up two ways to get started.
2 ways parents can help get kids off screens
1. Brainstorm responsibilities for them
First, Price recommends coming up with a task your kid can do without you. It should be something they’ve never done before that might even be a little bit scary.
Running errands on their own, walking or biking to school or a friend’s house and making their own breakfast or lunch are all examples Price gives in the book.
Giving young people responsibilities not only helps keep them off screens, it offers a myriad other benefits, she adds.
“Chances are it’s going to boost their confidence and be fun and give them a skill that they’ll be able to use going forward,” says Price.
Research also shows these kinds of activities can reduce anxiety in both kids and parents, she says.
2. Help them build real life hobbies
Prices recommends talking to your kids and learning more about what non-screen activities they like to do and then creating the circumstances that make those activities possible.
With young kids, it can be as easy as setting out a cardboard box and some art supplies and letting their creativity run wild, she says.
For older kids, it can be more tailored.
A colleague of Price’s, for example, has three teenage boys and wanted to make her garage a fun place for them to hang out. This friend got some free weights off Craigslist and stocked the garage with snacks. “Now she’s got this group of teen boys coming and lifting weights in her garage every afternoon,” Price says.
Even if it’s not in the home, Price says parents can help kids find a third place to hang out like a community center, a mall or a cafe.
Young people have a “developmentally appropriate desire to spend more time with their friends in private,” Price says. If parents can help create those opportunities without screens, they won’t have to revert to them.
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