Sometimes you may feel as though your adolescent lives on their phone/tablet/computer. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, on and on! Everyone wants their attention!
You give likes, you get likes, your phone buzzes, little red numbers come up on the apps letting you know about every interaction, every moment someone may notice you.
Are you giving yourself time to just be you? For them to just be them?
Some folks unplug totally from social media, whether for an hour, a day, or a week—or even longer. These are sometimes called “social-media fasts” or “internet sabbaticals.”
There are some ways we can encourage our youth to take a break, to enjoy life outside the screens…
There are lots of ways to take a break from social media without having to “disconnect” completely. One way is to take all “push” notifications off your phone—that way you have to actually open the app to see if anything is happening. This is especially useful if the notifications distract you from school work or other tasks.
Another option is only using the computer for social media. This means taking some or all of the apps off your phone. It makes it so that when you sit down at your computer you know whatever is happening on your social network doesn’t have to literally be with you all of the time.
Taking a break from social media does not have to be an all-or-nothing situation. It can be a simplifying of what you engage in.
How do you take breaks from social media? Have you tried a day with out checking your various accounts? How did it feel? How would you feel about doing a family day without screens? Tell us about your experiences with social media and adolescents.
