Feel like you spend way too much time arguing with your kids about how much they’re on their phones or playing video games? It’s a common problem and according to new research, it adds up to parents spending about 96 hours a year fighting with their kids over screen time.⠀
A poll of 2-thousand moms and dads of kids in kindergarten to fifth grade looks at how screens affect the relationship parents have with their kids and reveals:
- Two-thirds (67%) of parents admit they’re afraid they’re losing precious time with their kids because of screen addiction.
- Even worse? Another 41% are worried they’re losing their young kids’ whole childhood to technology.
- Their top concerns are their children being exposed to online predators (51%), being exposed to inappropriate content (46%) and screen addiction (45%).
- They’re also worried about cyberbullying (44%), kids looking up things that aren’t age-appropriate (40%), negative effects of social media (37%) and on mental health (37%).
- Parents see some concerning side effects from excessive screen time, including irritability (27%), mood swings (24%) and even full-on meltdowns (22%).
- They also notice kids having shorter attention spans with offline activities like homework (19%), having more anxiety (14%), and trouble sleeping (14%).
- But kids are clever and find ways to get their screen time, like sneaking devices behind parents’ backs (39%), using different devices (20%) and changing the controls or permissions without their mom or dad knowing (18%).
- A lot of parents also back down when their kids don’t want to turn off their device, admitting they give in 65% of the time.
- The most common fights about screen time are over how long kids can be on (43%), the content and apps kids can use (18%) and required parental approval for watching videos or games (18%).
- At this point, half (52%) of parents who let their kids access the Internet admit they wish they waited longer to give kids Internet devices.
Source: Talker