HOUSTON — In the digital age, many parents are struggling with when their child is ready for a cell phone and how much time they should spend on screens.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and AT&T are launching tools to help families decide if kids are ready and to help create safe, responsible media and technology use.
“People have used parent controls and other sorts of monitoring technology, but that's not the only answer," Dr. Jenny Radesky, assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School, said. "A lot of it's going to be about saying to your kids, 'Hey, show me your digital world, show me what games you play or what YouTubers you follow,' and have healthy conversations.”
To gauge if the family is in the “Ready Zone” or not, there is a questionnaire that asks things like: does your child keep track of their things?; and do you trust their judgment when you aren’t around?
Parents can also build a customized media plan for the whole family.
“What boundaries do you want to set around technology so kids can have healthy sleep, they can have undistracted homework time?" Dr. Radesky advised. "Whatever is important to your family; controlling tech and enjoying it, not feeling controlled by it."
Click here for the tool Digital Parenting | AT&T ScreenReady® (att.com)
It's designed for parents like Lezlie Cox. Her son Bennett is busy with sports, so he hasn’t been on his iPad much this summer.
“I mostly play games because I can friend all my friends and then we can play together.”
Lezlie has been thinking about getting the 11-year-old a cell phone. “I'm a little nervous with social media, cyberbullying, things like that. But he's in a lot of sports and over at friends' houses, and it might be easier for us to make plans if he had one,” she said.
Bennett thinks he’s responsible enough for a cell phone. “I tell my mom if I'm watching something that's not good because sometimes it just pops up.”
Lezlie believes it's best when kids can just be kids without screens. “The kids should be out playing, not sitting at home on the iPads or, you know, doing social media stuff."
Media use among tweens and teens has skyrocketed since the pandemic. Teens spend over 8.5 hours a day on screens, according to Common Sense Media.