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Breaking Childhood Screen Addiction
We invited our sponsor, BetterHelp, to co-write this article to enhance the quality of the suggestions with their expertise.
Helping Your Child Find Offline Joy and Healthier Habits
Turning Concern into Positive Action
The developing minds of young children and teens are highly susceptible to social media, online gaming and electronic devices, which often demand significant attention and time. Some parents might introduce screens into their children’s lives at a young age, only to later find that they regret their decision due to how much their child uses screens. You’re not alone if you feel worried about your child’s screen use. Using these emotions as a positive force for change and finding strategies to encourage offline play, exploration, and connection can be helpful ways to move forward.
A screen can be compared to a bowl of candy - if it’s in front of you, it’s very hard to resist. This is especially true for children and teens, as their impulse control is not yet fully developed.
The impact of screen addiction on children and teens
Children and teens have short attention spans and can easily be drawn in by the fast-paced, short-form content often shared online. However, frequent and compulsive social media or screen usage can lead to a psychological problem called “screen addiction,” which has various negative impacts, including but not limited to:
- Loneliness
- Insomnia
- Back pain and muscle pain
- Headaches
- Dishonesty
- Guilt and shame
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Vision problems
- Reduced cognitive function and loss of brain tissue
- Social anxiety
- An increased risk of being bullied
- An increased risk of being exposed to harmful media and adults with bad intentions
- A lack of motivation
Teaming up with other parents can make screen time limits feel more fair.
Screen addiction can persist into adulthood and take up a significant amount of one’s time. Parents can make efforts to reduce this risk by working with their children on healthy lifestyle habits.
How to Help Your Child Find Joy Offline
There are various ways to support your child in finding joy, fun, and connection off
their devices, including but not limited to the following.
Find Engaging Activities to Fill Their Time
Because the internet can be highly engaging, children often spend time online to get a dopamine rush, have fun, or keep their minds occupied, especially after a long stressful day at school or when they want to avoid more “boring” tasks like chores.
Offering engaging activities can be an effective way to reduce screen time. Consider enrolling your children in sports teams, dance classes, or music lessons.
Encourage them to play outside with friends, engaging in activities like basketball, soccer, skateboarding, or cycling.
Promote a range of activities at home by offering choices that fit your child’s age and preferences, such as drawing or painting, playing board games or cards, reading books, playing table tennis (set up a portable ping pong net on the dining table), listening to music or audiobooks (use a screen-free music device or a portable speaker that you can connect to wirelessly from your own device), cooking or baking, crafting, trying out DIY projects, solving puzzles, building models (there are Legos for all ages), creating a vision board for goals and dreams, creating a scrapbook with photos and memories, dancing, building a fort, writing a journal, writing letters to a relative or friend, practicing meditation or yoga, so they can play and create, whether with siblings, friends or independently.
By keeping them engaged in other activities, you can help them avoid turning to screens.
Consider joining them, putting yourself in their world, and learning more about their interests.
Go outside together on your screen-free family time.
Set Screen Limits and Have Screen-Free Family Time
Too much screen time has been linked to reduced cognitive development, negatively impacting a child’s ability to learn and grow naturally. Set screen limits and consider having screen-free days at home. If you’re transitioning into this new schedule, consider taking a screen-free vacation first to help your children adjust to the change. You might also limit a child’s daily screen use so they must choose other activities when their time is up. On weekends, spend family time as a group to grow your bond.
Get Involved in Their Lives
Get involved in your child’s life. Talk to them about their interests, learn about their dreams, and help them take steps to meet their goals. Find ways to enroll your child in programs they’re interested in and supply them with what they need to make their dreams come true. For example, if they want to be an artist, get them art supplies, enroll them in an art club, or sign them up for art class. Remind them that you love and support them and believe in their ability to accomplish what they put their mind to.
Use Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Techniques
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a renowned evidence-based therapeutic
modality focusing on changing cognition to improve behavior. Therapists use this
technique, but it can be helpful for anyone and doesn’t only work in supporting those
with mental illnesses. CBT can be helpful for daily life, too. Below are a few
techniques to try with your children:
- Cognitive restructuring: Cognitive restructuring is a technique for rephrasing beliefs about yourself, the world, or a situation. You can help your children reframe their desires to use the internet by examining the underlying causes of escapism behaviors and ways to increase their confidence offline.
- Mindfulness and active participation: Mindfulness may help one be more
present in the moment and enjoy life without screens. Teaching your children about grounding, body scanning, and meditation is a good place to start. - Self-rewarding: Teach your children to reward themselves for spending time away from social media and let certain activities offer natural rewards like joy and fun. For example, you might take your kids out for a special event once a month if they follow the screen time plan and don’t sneak their devices.
It is never to late to introduce healthy habits and routines.
Try Therapy
If your children are significantly struggling to reduce their screen time or you want professional guidance, you might consider therapy. While in-person therapy, where your child or teen can connect with a compassionate therapist face-to-face, is ideal, we recognize that not every family has access to traditional therapy, or a child may be reluctant to attend. In these instances, online therapy, using a laptop or regular phone call instead of a tablet or smartphone, can be a viable alternative.
Accessible formats of treatment, such as online counseling platforms like BetterHelp for adults or TeenCounseling for teens aged 13 to 19, may be helpful options.
Studies show that online therapy is especially effective in supporting parents in emotional regulation. In one study, parents reported an increased quality of life, improved ability to handle stress, and improved mood after meeting with an in-person therapist, enabling them to better support their children.
Takeaways for parents
Addiction to screens can be challenging for children and teens to overcome, but having a loving parent and tools in one’s pocket can be helpful ways to move forward and make positive changes. By taking action today, parents can improve the quality of a child’s present moment and help them learn to regulate all areas of their lives.
