IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2017 - 29

12-18 Years Rules:
Independence

march 2017

©istock

These are the ages when most arguments and disobedience related to
technology use happen. Children can
emotionally implode when parents
establish or impose computer/Internet rules. By now, your child probably has his or her own smartphone.
They see many of their friends with
unlimited computer access.
They are sick of the rules. They
are also young and cannot absorb
the meaning of parental rules.
As children enter the teenage
years, they want independence.
Rules of the house usually change
as they can stay out later or meet
friends or by age 16, they start to
drive. These are all signs of independence, and screen use is no different. At this age, teenagers desire
their own social media accounts
and demand privacy and unsupervised online time.
"Digital diet" and "digital nutrition" are important at this age. If
you grant unrestricted use, have
your child maintain a digital log.
They can provide you with updates
on their time online. A digital log
helps a teenager also keep track of
their own media use. Too much time
online, like food, can result in harmful habits. A digital log helps you
track a child's balanced and healthy
digital diet without hovering over
their daily online use.
Regarding digital nutrition, this
is a time to help children make better choices about their activities
online. Do they play videogames
all day or are they doing homework? Are they using social media
or are they researching a paper for
school? Like food addiction, online

use is about making healthy choices. Nutrition means that as an independent teenager the technology is
used responsibly.
Once you have rules for responsible technology use, decide on
discipline for violations in advance,
whether you ban your child from driving for a week or a month, whether
you ground them, cut back on their
allowance or Internet use - whatever
- plan it in advance.
Make sure your child has daily
chores around the house (e.g., doing
the dishes, cutting the lawn, shoveling snow, or taking out garbage).
Keep them structured. At 16, urge
them to get a job. If they are working, then they don't have time to
play or use all their digital devices.
This also helps them develop a work
ethic. Working also helps teenagers
maintain structure in their day to
avoid boredom and idol time that
contributes to screen overuse and
addiction and they can now afford
their own digital devices.

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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

Appropriate activities now are:
1) Your child has independence
with technology but make sure
your child turns in a weekly digital log to improve engagement
with technology and the family.
2) Review what is meant by digital
diet and digital nutrition and
decide on consequences for violations of rules and time limits.
3) Know your child's online friends,
invite them to dinner and talk
about how they are.
4) Make sure they complete chores
and stay involved with school
activities and friends.
5) When old enough, have children work to improve their
time structure, personal financial management, and develop
a good work ethic.

Author Information
The author is Founder, the Center
for Internet Addiction Recovery, and
Netaddiction.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2017