How to Tell Relatives, Teachers, Babysitters, and Even Your Spouse Your Screen Time Rules

By: Sierra Filucci

As so many of the responses to this courageous post show, this is a touchy subject for many reasons. As someone who has studied societal trends, and their impacts, for over 40 years, this is a fascinating area. This post could be compared to a non-alcoholic taking evidence-based healthy decisions in an alcoholic society. From an evidence-based point of view, this parent is choosing the difficult path of being a parent and guardian to their children, of 'parenting' in a society where it is rarely acceptable to do so. Evidence shows that, from a mixture of feeling inadequate and, put bluntly, 'laziness' - US and similar cultures are seriously damaging their offspring through their reluctance to parent. A parent who actively parents puts themselves at risk of criticism, as the trend is towards parents being 'friends' to their children, thus avoiding the discomfort, and rewards, of emotional maturity for the entire famiy. Simply put, our decisions show who we are. The current mainstream of society makes decisions based on putting possessions above our family life; we choose to have two parents working full-time rather than choosing less possessions and more time with our family. We choose, and make it OK for the sake of ubiquitous 'convenience' for our children to be parented, advised and de-sensitised emotionally, by a media that is mainly self-serving in it's blatant encouragement of consumerism and lack of age-appropriate material (the latter encouraging our appetite for ever-more 'edgey' material). This parent may or may not be not 'strict' - they are choosing for their child to be one of the few NOT corrupted by inappropriate media, inappropriate in content as well as in its inflated importance in family life. According to the evidence available from data collected over the last 30 years, this parent is choosing for their child to be one of the emotionally well-adjusted, educationally above average, contributing members of our society. I think that's worth a few sour-grape comments from others.

Source: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/how-to-tell-relatives-teachers-babysitters-and-even-your-spouse-your-screen-time-rules

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