{"id":1457,"date":"2014-01-27T06:41:10","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T14:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/?p=1457"},"modified":"2014-01-27T06:41:58","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T14:41:58","slug":"technology-free-zone-how-to-limit-your-childs-tech-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/2014\/01\/27\/technology-free-zone-how-to-limit-your-childs-tech-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology Free-Zone: How to Limit Your Child\u2019s Tech Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"smartphones\"<\/a>With the availability of tablets, gaming systems, cell phones and computers, \u201cplay\u201d isn’t what it used to be. In fact, many families find themselves, children included, constantly glued to technology.<\/p>\n

Even though technology play has positive aspects, it\u2019s also important to have some \u201ctech-free\u201d moments throughout the day. With these strategies, learn how to limit your child\u2019s tech time and bring back the quality in family time.<\/p>\n

Risks of Technology Overload<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the most common risks of being glued to technology is the lack of one-on-one communication families and children have with each other.\u00a0 We’ve all had the experience of walking into a restaurant and seeing everyone under 16 with their heads down, furiously texting on their phones or playing on a tablet, says Jon Lam, founder of Noventa Learning<\/a>. \u201cAs a result, many people are rusty at communicating with people face to face and developing relationships,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Being addicted to short reward cycles is another risk of technology overload. Children get instant gratification when playing electronic games. \u201cThe problem is that real life is not designed like that,\u201d says Lam.<\/p>\n

Your child could also suffer from overstimulation, according to Jennifer Schindele<\/a>, Pennsylvania-based certified sleep consultant. \u201cThis can and often does affect the child\u2019s ability to go to sleep easily at bedtime and can result in fragmented or broken sleep during the night due to the child\u2019s now overtired state after being overstimulated by TV, a computer, video games or tablets right before bedtime,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Children who are glued to technology often struggle to develop social skills. \u201cThey miss learning how to read and respond to social cues that are often subtle, such as facial expression or body language,\u201d says Robin Kevles-Necowitz<\/a>, licensed psychotherapist and parenting coach in Pennsylvania. \u201cChildren who spend lots of time with technology struggle to develop the skills required to carry a conversation or develop critical friendship skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to Set Limits<\/b><\/p>\n

In order to set limits, parents and nannies must be intentional about how they schedule technology time and limits, says David Simonsen<\/a>, licensed family therapist. \u201cParents must be in agreement with one another about how to deal with it,\u201d he says. \u201cOnce they are in agreement then some type of plan is in order. For example, is technology ever allowed at the table or when you\u2019re out to eat with friends? There are going to need to be hard and fast rules and then flexible rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the plan, you can also set specific times on certain days for technology use, according to Kevles-Necowitz. The key is to stay firm and consistent with your children. \u201cIt\u2019s easy. Just say \u2018New Rule. From now on, we only use technology from 4-6 p.m. during the week and 12-4 p.m. on the weekends\u2019 or whatever works best for your family,\u201d she says. \u201cThey may not like it or understand it until they are much older, but we need to have patience, manage our anxiety when they have a fit and trust the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another approach is to involve your children in creating a tech-free schedule. \u201cBy doing this, they can have an open discussion on appropriate times and duration of technology use and how it is not a healthy part of preparing for bedtime,\u201d says Schindele. \u201cI suggest to all families that I work with to limit the use of technology for at least 45 minutes to an hour before nap or bedtime. This way, the child\u2019s brain has the opportunity to wind down and prepare for sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Setting up tech-free zones in certain rooms of the house can help enforce technology limits, too. For example, the kitchen and dining room may be off limits for electronics, but the living room during certain hours is a tech-friendly zone.<\/p>\n

Benefits of Tech-Free Zones<\/b><\/p>\n

Although your children may initially miss their electronic devices, if you show them the opportunities outside of a technology zone, they will soon forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our household, we don\u2019t stress the importance of limiting technology as much as highlight all the fun things that one can do without technology,\u201d says Lam. \u201cOur kids spend as much time reading, doing crafts, and playing outside as they do watching TV or using the iPad. Promote the habit of maintaining balance between those types of activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

These tech-free moments not only help your child discover other interests and socialize, but they can also put more focus on family time. \u201cTechnology often takes away from family relationships,\u201d says Simonsen. \u201cSo, taking away technology can actually be used to build family time that is usually missing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the availability of tablets, gaming systems, cell phones and computers, \u201cplay\u201d isn’t what it used to be. In fact, many families find themselves, children included, constantly glued to technology. Even though technology play has positive aspects, it\u2019s also important … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1460,"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions\/1460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enannysource.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}