Between the heat and the frequent storms, D.C.-area kids may have found themselves spending more time inside this summer — and more time glued to screens.
“It’s not easy when it’s either really hot or it’s really rainy, or anything in between, to get kids outdoors, getting them excited about doing non-digital activity,” Dr. Anisha Abraham, chief of adolescent medicine at Children’s National Hospital, said.
But summer is actually a great opportunity to reset your family’s relationship with technology, she said. And that doesn’t have to mean throwing devices out the window.
“Many young people use screens during the school year because there’s an educational purpose, and then a lot of young people during the summer lose that structure,” Abraham said. “It’s really thinking about what are those devices doing right now and how we can be more thoughtful.”
The bigger concern, she said, is what screens are replacing. If they’re crowding out sleep, exercise, sports or face-to-face time with friends, that’s when it becomes a problem.
“Think of it as a wellness check for your family when it comes to their digital life,” Abraham told WTOP. “Kids that are on screens a lot could have higher rates of things like depression or anxiety or sleep-related issues.”
Her advice? First, carve out screen-free moments during the day. She suggested it could be easy to make meals or car rides screen-free events.
Second, and especially important, is to keep devices out of bedrooms at night. Abraham said some kids are staying up late during the summer because they’re on their phones at the expense of sleep. Charging the devices outside the bedroom can help.
And if the kids complain, so be it.
“A little bit of boredom isn’t going to hurt someone,” she said. “It does, I think, help in terms of creativity.”
It’s also a chance for you to engage with your kids. Alternatives like camp-like activities, volunteer work, family game nights or cooking together can fill that space.
And then there’s the part parents might not want to hear — your kids are watching and emulating what you do.
“If parents and adults are on their devices, guess what? Kids are more likely, too,” Abraham said. “We need to make that change ourselves.”
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