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In my presentation to over 1500 family doctors at the St. Paul’s Medical Conference, I shared these recommendations and you need to know about the harmful apps that kids and teens are accessing:

Recommendation #1: Create a Family Media Plan (I recommend doing this no matter what the age of your kids and even as part of the prenatal stage). A family media plan is a guide that helps families navigate and determine what their policies are going to be regarding screen use. For example, tablets or TV (TV is recommended), how much screen-time, where can screens be used and not used (no child or teen should have a screen in their room at night – the dark web is too dangerous), what apps, especially social media apps, and at what age, what are the rules around AI use? Say “no” to the harmful apps in the image below etc.

You can find an editable template for creating a family media plan in my new Free Ebook: The ScreenSense Toolkit on my home page at www.sharonselby.com

Recommendation #2: The Canadian Paediatric Society recommends 60 minutes of exercise/day for kids and teens. Are screens replacing physical activity? How much exercise are your kids and teens getting each day and is some of this exercise outdoors? (Walking or hiking in forests helps calm the nervous system and is a good antidote to anxiety.)

Recommendation #3: Use the excellent website: www.commonsensemedia.org to research everything and anything related to screens and the online world. Common Sense Media gives recommendations by age for every video game, app, TV show, movie, website etc. They give the pros and the cons and help you understand which are the harmful apps etc.

Recommendation #4: Prioritize your connection and relationship with your child/teen. Nowadays parenting is more challenging than ever before because parents have to compete for connection with screens. This is why it is so important to have boundaries (Eg. Use car rides for parent-child/teen connection vs. being a chauffeur as they scroll on their phones). Schedule 1:1 and family quality time with your child/teen each week.

Connection, connection, connection! The teenage years are bumpy but smoother to navigate if you have a strong connection with your child.

Recommendation #5: Delay screens of any kind and social media apps for as long as possible. As my 20 year old recently said to me, “The content on social media is 100x more toxic now than it was even three years ago!” I also recommend signing the www.UnpluggedCanada.com pledge to delay smart phones until age 14. (Flip phones are recommended for grade 8.)

I also highly recommend talking to the parents at your school who have kids in the same grade and work on getting a majority to delay smart phone use. This will help you all out when the time comes and your kids start asking for phones.

Every week, I hear new disturbing information in my office from my clients. In 28 years of being a therapist, I have never been as concerned as I am now about the content that kids are accessing, especially through social media apps and AI.

Unplugged Canada has given me permission to share this valuable image (below) to inform you of the harmful apps to know about and be concerned about.

For example, on this image, you will see the app, Character AI. This app allows users of all ages (not age restricted or moderated!!) to have conversational chat with characters who can be created to be very realistic. This enables users to engage in sexually explicit and pornographic style conversations with their character which can become very personal, responsive and emotionally engaging. This can quickly lead to premature sexual exposure, distorted expectations about intimacy and consent and the replacement of healthy peer relationships with artificial ones.

I’m giving a lot of talks on the impact of screens and our kids/teens as it’s becoming more and more concerning all the time.

It’s my passion to create awareness for parents about the current concerns online, in hopes of protecting our kids/teens well-being.

I encourage you to read my new free eBook: The ScreenSense Tool Kit available on my website.

Warmly,

Sharon

PS. Registration is now open for my next round of in-person and online Self-Empowerment Groups for ages 7-9 year olds and 10-12 year olds. These groups are for parents who want to be proactive in teaching their kids about social dynamics (friendship drama). assertive communication, self-worth/confidence, boundary setting, self-regulation, and growth mindset/optimism.  You can read more about these groups and register here. (In-person groups in W.Vancouver and online group available)