\n<\/p>\n
Perhaps that\u2019s what the age restriction is for – buying time for us to have conversations over what boundaries are appropriate.<\/p>\n
At some point, our children will make their own decisions. The parenting approach therefore needs to shift from prescription to persuasion.<\/p>\n
When they’re young, we make decisions for them. As they grow older, we spend less time issuing instructions and more time trying to convince them that those instructions existed for a reason. That conversation is harder than simply saying no.<\/p>\n
Conversations require us to explain ourselves. They require us to listen. Occasionally they require us to admit that we struggle with the very habits we’re asking our children to avoid.<\/p>\n
If we’re asking our teenagers to think critically about endless scrolling, perhaps they should also see us putting our own phones away during dinner.<\/p>\n
If we want them to be intentional about screentime, it\u2019s far more effective to be candid about our own personal struggles with screentime as adults, and set an example ourselves.<\/p>\n
I don’t expect a single conversation, or even a ten-slide PowerPoint for that matter, to settle the question of where social media boundaries should lie. Not when, at the age of 46, I\u2019m still navigating it myself.<\/p>\n
Neither will legislation.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have all the answers right now against the pressures of the digital era, but if we can navigate this together with courage and openness, I think we might come to a better place. Maybe even to a place of connection between parent and child – even if it\u2019s just sharing memes and funny reels.<\/p>\n