Smart Phones, Social Media Can Lead to Anxiety, Depression, and Loneliness

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Welcome to Keeping You Connected – a new recurring feature column in The Bellevue Times brought to you by Lindsay Martin and her team at UScellular in Bellevue. In this first article, Lindsay shares the dangers of too much screen time for kids and the negative effects that social media may be having on your children.

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As we all know smart devices have become a big part of our daily lives. We use them for all sorts of different things throughout the day. This brings a lot of good, but it also can have some negative effects as well, specifically on children and young adults. It can have a big impact on their mental and physical health if screen time is not monitored properly. 

According to childrenstreatmentcenter.com, anxiety, depression, and loneliness are often a result of too much screen time in kids. Social media is a big factor in this. Hours of scrolling through photos and videos of what is portrayed as a perfect look or perfect life can negatively impact children. It can give them a false sense of what reality is. Increased screen time can also impact sleep in children as well. Screen time at bedtime can result in not enough sleep, poor sleep quality, and increased tiredness. Loss of sleep can directly affect a child’s mental and physical health. 

Not all screen time can cause negative effects on children, you just have to find a balance and figure out how much screen time is okay for your child. Many smart devices have built-in screen monitoring apps that you can turn on to help with this. Apple has a feature built-in called Screen Time that allows you to get real-time reports that show how much time and what your child spends on their Apple products. Not only does it allow you to set specific screen time limits, it also allows you to set app limits, communication limits, and content and privacy restrictions. Android devices have something similar called Digital Wellbeing that can help monitor screen time. 

At UScellular we are here to help you navigate the future of technology and the safety of your children. If you have any questions or would like us to show you how to monitor your children’s devices, stop in to our location at 2012 Cornhusker Road and we would be more than happy to assist you.