Counseling News for February 2015

The internet, cell phones and social media has significantly changed how our children interact and communicate with others. Development of new social media websites and apps appear to change daily. While this advancement in technology has improved our ability to communicate with others instantly, we are all well aware of the dangers that it poses to our children. We are often overwhelmed with news stories of kids being cruel to each other over the internet or while texting. It is imperative that parents know what our children are doing on-line and that families have rules regarding the use of the internet and cell phones, and above all, communicate with your children about using technology safely and responsibly.

While in a middle school classroom recently a student made the following statement: “some people feel braver to say things while texting than in person”. I quickly took this opportunity to teach about the safe use of technology. I reminded the class of the basic rule that we all need to follow while on-line or while texting; if you don’t feel brave enough to say something in person then you should not say it on-line or in a text!

Safety Tips for Internet

1- Know your child’s email account and password. 2- Keep the computer in a family area to better monitor your child’s activity. 3- Regularly spend time online with your child to learn about his or her interests and activities. 4- Limit your child to specific chat rooms or consider blocking out chat entirely. 5- Talk to your children about the dangers of the Internet and what they should do in the event they have concerns about something they see on-line. 6- Enforce time limits. (The American Association of Pediatrics) maintains that children ages 2 years and older should be limited to two hours of screen (all screens) time daily. 7- Remind children frequently that anything posted on-line can be seen by everyone! 8- Always follow the Golden Rule while on-line!

Safety Tips for Cell Phones

1- Research shows that 4 out of 5 teens sleep with their phone causing sleep deprivation. Consider a ‘no phone at night’ rule in your house. 2- Although controversial, there is a significant amount of research that states that cell phone use (screen time) should be avoided one hour prior to going to sleep as it can disrupt the brain’s ability to induce sleep. 3- Remind your children often that anything you send in a text can be seen by others! 4- Talk, talk, talk to your children about what is appropriate and not appropriate to send in a text!

Ms. Katie