By: Marley Ireland
The AAP’s Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health has a great resource called the 5 Cs of Media Use for promoting conversations between parents and teens about phone use. The 5 Cs are Child, Content, Calm, Crowding Out, and Communication. You can learn more about those at the 5 Cs Resource Hub. But today’s focus is summer and how technology use can change during this time. While using technology can be super helpful for things like planning activities with friends, finding new things to do, and sharing vacation photos, it is important not to let technology rule the summer. This is a list of 5 Cs for Summer to help seize each day and have a fun summer with balanced technology use!
Clock – Investing in a physical alarm clock is a good way to avoid looking at your phone at bedtime or first thing in the morning. It can help support teens with getting enough rest during the summertime! How to Break Up With Your Phone author Catherine Price explains that a standalone alarm clock is key for succeeding in how to start and end the day on your own terms. If getting an alarm clock is not an option for you, here are some other ways to prevent technology from crowding out sleep with these tips from the Center of Excellence.
Creative – Summer is the best time for exploring new things. Encouraging your teen to start a fun craft or other project is a fun way to have some offline entertainment.
Here are some ideas:
Clear – Making a Family Media Plan is a way to set clear expectations and priorities for technology use. Structuring technology use can keep it novel while also ensuring there is some offline time too. Having conversations about boundaries can also foster conversations about how teens feel about their technology use.
Community – Connect with the community around. you. Getting involved in youth sports or getting a local library card can be good ways to engage with the community. There are also online communities and curricula such as the log off movement or Chapter 15: School-Based Initiatives Promoting Digital Citizenship and Health Digital Media Use to learn about how to establish healthy technology habits for the longer term.
Contribute – The way parents use their phones matters too because kids need examples to look up to! Try to contribute to having a good online and offline balance by learning more about how parental phone use affects kids. Here are some resources:
- Plugged-In Parenting: How Parental Smartphone Use May Affect Kids
- Healthy Parenting & Digital Media Use
- Can Parental Smartphone and Social Media Use Impact Youth Mental Health?
There is no Clear-Cut way to do it, but raising Conscientious teens and talking Candidly about technology use will hopefully help everyone have a Cheerful summer!