They Say Screen Time Is Actually Good For Teens Now
It turns out that kids who constantly use their phones are more unhappy than active kids, but the key to happiness is moderation.
By nowproducerdave on January 24, 2018
But they key is moderation.
San Diego University just published some new findings they’ve been looking into, and they actually determined that teens have a “sweet spot” as far as time spent per-day on phones, tablets, or other devices. They looked at some info they collected from over 1 million kids between the ages of 13-18, and discovered that just about 1 hour per day is perfectly healthy, and is a good amount of time spent on devices to keep them “happy.” They actually say that kids who use their devices all day are actually more unhappy that kids who are doing activities like sports or basically anything else that isn’t a device. It seems obvious that kids will be “happier” being active, but anyone who actually takes a phone from a teen makes them unhappy, but that’s just typical kid rebellion, apparently.
Sure they’ll probably want more screen time, but more time may make them less happy than just using a device in moderation. These days with everything going to mobile use – yes, even our own jobs as adults and parents, sadly, it’s basically necessary to have some sort of connected device in our hands. Workplaces require them of a lot of employees for schedules, emails, and client calls when you’re on-the-go – phones and tablets unavoidable these days. So, the researchers and scientists say to let your kids use their devices, but time them, and if they’re approaching a couple hours of use in a day, it’s probably a good idea to have them put it away (digital media in general) and spend some time *actually* socializing. Like, literally.
Another interesting statistic, in another research project, they discovered that about one-third of us, us as people in general, can’t even eat without having our phones with us. 34% of us are distracted while we eat, we can’t just sit there and finish a meal, and about 72% of us watch something while we eat – TV, Netflix, Hulu, etc. BUT, we’re all different, and another 34% of the people interviewed say they actually eat much faster when they’re in front of the TV, interestingly. Dieticians advise that non-distracted eating may actually contribute to weight loss, in that we’ll consume less calories and fatty foods if we can sit and just eat without doing something else at the same time. Interesting tidbit.
We’re just going to assume the same applies to device use in the bathroom, but they didn’t mention that in the research. Just wash your hands.
