How might we make children/students aware of the quality of their screen time?
Understanding personal narratives.
The first part of the problem is managing the narrative about what this means. Here I draw from Byron Katie’s Body of Work.
What is the story you are telling yourself or repeating from others about children/students using their devices and getting too much screen time as a teacher/parent/guardian?
For example: My student/child is going to be depressed and addicted to her smartphone and I will never form a relationship with him/her:
Is it true
Is this narrative accurate for your child/student?
Can you absolutely know it is true?
How do you react, What happens when you believe that thought
Who would you be without the thought?
What is the story your children or students are telling themselves or repeating from others about using their devices and their teacher/parent/guardian(s) opinions about it?
Is it true
Is this narrative accurate for your child/student?
Can you absolutely know it is true?
How do you react, What happens when you believe that thought
Who would you be without the thought?
Empathizing with others perspectives
Now assuming that we can reserve our reactionary tendency based on emotion. We can now enter a discussion with our child/student that attempts to discover and tackle the problem of screen time and devices together and collaboratively.
Here is where both parties can use an empathy map ( as seen below) to assist in identifying assumptions and barriers toward a dialogue of communication.
Once both parties feel an opportunity to have agency (voice, choice and a feeling of being heard) then solutions can be made to dive deeper into adjusting environments, acquiring tools and resources and establishing unified and shared SMART goals for technology and device use.
How might we differentiate the type of technology uses so we can understand what is work (the production of content) vs entertainment (the consumption of content)?
What type of apps help you work?
What type of apps are entertainment?
How much time should we spend as a family using these types of apps?
Questions for Further Explorations
Does the child/student understand the difference of technology as a tool vs entertainment device?
Depending on the child’s/ student’s age, how might parents/teachers educate the child to track and measured their screen time?
How does your child/student feel/think/about the results of their screen time?
