It is often said that being a parent is the hardest job in the world, but raising a teen in the world of tech has made parenting more challenging than ever. Glued to screens of various kinds from an early age, kids understand more about the usage of electronics, smartphones and digital technology than adults and spend numerous hours in the virtual world. A study by Kaiser Family Foundation has concluded that, over the past five years, kids and teens between the ages of 8 and 18 have significantly increased the amount of time spent ‘plugged into media’, from 6 hours and 21 minutes to 7 hours and 38 minutes a day – duration of almost one working shift!
In order to protect these young groups from feeling negative consequences of excessive technology usage, namely social anxiety, depression, social isolation, body image issues, low self-esteem and insecurity, it is crucial to keep them off screens by creating a healthy balance of technology usage, and by helping them uncover other productive and creative ways of spending time, especially after school so that they are #neverbored.
Can’t find a solution for your teen? Search no more, because Spotivity is here to help you learn about fun and fulfilling after-school activities, while helping you manage your teen’s time!
Obvious Solution: Spend Time With Your Teen
This is not only the most effective way of monitoring your child’s activities, but is also a perfect way of deepening a bond with them. Do you want to teach them something? How to grow flowers and herbs from seeds in your garden? Take them to the zoo and introduce them to key characteristics of the friendly residents of the zoo? Or teach them how to bake their favorite cake?
If you both enjoy sports, undertaking physical activities such as walking or jogging is always a win. While assisting the local community is always a good bet – you can help reduce plastic pollution by keeping the parks and streets clean. Finally, engaging your teen in discussion at the dinner table is another effective way of building closeness while getting to know your child better.
Encourage Your Teen to Join Local Communities
Is your teen into arts and performance? They might want to meet like-minded friends by joining a local program in recreation and cultural art; or they may love soccer, making the local youth team a great choice! If the teen has an ear for music, attending music classes with other talented teens is a must!
Work and Volunteer
After school hours do not only pertain to social activities – they also envelop the time where your teen might spend hours at a job or internship. Anything and everything where your teen can learn transferable skills, interact with others, and build up their respective personal toolkits is all fair game and wise use of time. Furthermore, contributing to and engaging with social communities and different groups of people to tackle local issues or learn new skills can only be rewarding. The studies report that some of positive effects include overall happiness, and sense of satisfaction and fulfilment, for which the lonely usage of smartphones cannot fully address.
Spotivity – is the tool to learn about yourself and the opportunities in the world around you. With University Research helping lead the way, what are you waiting for?
Ready to engage with a vast community of Teens and Parents, why wait? Join Spotivity Now
About Spotivity
Be #neverbored again by using the spotivity app and find activities that fit your needs. We help you find programing that can lead to your passion. Whether that is an art program to practice graffiti, a sports program to engage in competition, an education support class to improve your grades, or just finding someone to talk to – spotivity has your back. Backed by research and continually informed by users, spotivity is the tool to help you unlock your world and expand the list of options you can take advantage of.
