Why Parents Can't Control Youth Screen Time

The times have changed. They will continue to change. It's time for parents to stop trying to control youth screen time.

As a child, I remember when the household only had one computer, if that. Then, it was a large, clunky piece of technology that sat in the corner of the room and required my parent's consent to be used by any of the youth of the house. Nowadays, youth find themselves with computers in their pockets, in classrooms, and even at the tables of restaurants. This shift is indicative of a change in the times which demands an adjustment be made in terms of how we attempt to regulate youth usage of technology. Because it is now widely prevalent and integral to a student's learning, such an adjustment must recognize the inevitability of excessive youth screen time as this is not the fault of the youth but rather the fault of the parents.

Allow me to explain.

Because the prior generation allowed technological development to run amok, the widespread use of technology quickly became a necessity and less of a luxury. This implicates society as a whole for the excessiveness of youth screen time because it is now impossible for youth to operate absent it. Rather than trying to regulate student screen time in terms of how long they spend in front of a screen, we should be reorienting how the student uses the technology. This can look like teaching them to spend time reading online books rather than scrolling through Twitter or watching discussion videos rather than vines on YouTube. 

The times have changed. They will continue to change. It's time for parents to teach youth how to use technology in an effective manner rather than trying to limit/prohibit it.