What teens do to reduce screen time

For years now kids and teens spontaneously tell me how they feel like they spend too much time on screens. But many of them also tell me ways they work to cut down on screen time.

I have always found that when engaging with youth and teens about ways to prevent excessive screen time, it works extremely well to give examples of what other young people do. So this “Tech Talk Tuesday” could really help you in having a great conversation this week with youth in your life.

Last week at a screening near Chicago of Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER a high school boy raised his hand and said, “I try to get stuff done, but I keep being distracted by screen stuff, what can I do to prevent this?”

I responded by asking him a question, “I’m curious, is there anything you have tried?” (I always try to ask, in a very respectful tone and non-judgemental way, for ideas youth have on questions they have just posed. It not only gets their brain thinking of solutions – but so often the audience gets great insights from their answers). In this particular situation, the student said he could not think of anything offhand that he had tried.

I suggested a few that I had heard from other teens. And I am adding those and several others here:

1. Use tech to manage tech. The other day my son, Chase – who is in college, told me that he uses a web extension to stay on track. He emailed me this info about it: “It’s called SelfControl and is helpful for staying on task as it completely blocks any site you want (i.e. Facebook) for an allotted time you set. This is quite helpful for reducing temptation.”

2. Unfollow things that are a time sink for them. They’ll stop following “satisfying videos” sites also known as “oddly satisfying videos.” Soap cutting, baking, playing with slime, eggshell crushing, paint mixing, etc. fall into this category.

3. Make themselves accountable. They may do this by telling a friend or a parent or posting on social media about a new goal for the week – then promise themselves they will report back how they fared that week in attaining the goal.

4. Turn off notifications. They’ll turn off post notifications on Instagram or Snapchat.

5. Decide not to get social media in the first place. The other day I was talking with teens about Snapchat vs. Instagram and a 9th-grade girl told me she did not have either. \I asked her why and she said, “I don’t want that time sink.” She added that it was not a parent’s decision but truly her own. Another teen girl told me she is not going to download Tik Tok for she is sure it will be “too much of a time suck.”

6. Remove their devices at night. The day after I spoke at a screening of NEXT CHAPTER, which looks at the concerning state of sleep in teens, a mom told me that her daughter, who no longer lives with her but who came with her to the screening, called her the next day to say she decided to keep her phone out of her bedroom and she slept noticeably better.

7. Put their own limits on their phones. Teens often tell me that with setups like “ScreenTime” on their phone, they only use social media for 1 or 2 hours a day — and they are happy to have that hard-set limit.

8. Remove games from their tablet or phone. This simple action reduces temptation.

9. Replace “online” with “in-life.” In Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER we hear from a sweet middle schooler who talks about playing a lot of video games in 8th grade and one day he stopped and asked himself, “Am I really enjoying this, am I happy?” which prompted him to call a friend and go out and skateboard which he now does a lot more and it makes him really happy.

10. Purposely get grounded from their phone. No joke, I have heard from teens and tweens how they pushed their family screen rules in part to get their phone taken away (for a few days) so they could have a break from their phone but could blame not being able to respond to friends on their parents. Yes, this is rare but it is good food for discussion.

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Delaney Ruston is a primary care physician and the documentary filmmaker behind “Screenagers,” a film that offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance in life. This is from her blog “Tech Talk Tuesdays” at Screenagersmovie.com.