28-05-2025
An expert's advice for parents and summer screen time challenges
The Brief
A child therapist with 20 years of experience is cautioning parents about screen time limits.
Technology is often crippling the development of children, who are surrounded by screens.
Parents concerned about the safety of playing outdoors should be more worried about social media, she said.
FOX 2 - Summer is around the corner, which means for kids more free time and for parents, prepare to do battle.
One expert says when it comes to preventing lots of screen time, do more, and when it comes to preventing boredom, parents can do better by doing less.
Big picture view
Kids are surrounded by screens and sometimes parents struggle with limits.
"We're not allowing our children to experience painful feelings, to experience discomfort, to work through something hard, to tolerate boredom," said Nicole Runyan, child therapist. "We really want to make our kids happy."
After two decades of working as a child therapist, Runyon says that technology is crippling the development of children.
"It's giving them a dopamine fix," she said. "It's overstimulating. Even just the picture is fast, so it makes their brain react to stimuli in a faster way.
"So when they are in the real world, it prevents them from things like attention and focus, and tolerating discomfort, because they are always constantly being entertained and feeling good."
Here's a simple example - a child goes on a bike ride that results in physical exertion and decision-making. There might even be interaction with other kids as well.
Those little experiences add up to brain and body development. But before getting on that bike, a child might need to be bored, meaning the screen isn't an option. "It's okay for your child to be bored," Runyon said. "It's okay for your child to not have anything to do, because this is the time for kids to create. It is a time to get imaginative, it is a time for them to figure something out on their own."
Runyon has a book titled "Free to fly, the secret to fostering independence in the next generation."
She says if you are worried about your children playing, she says you should be more worried about them being alone in a room with a phone, where the outside world has access to your child.
Instead of screen time you can plant a garden, help cook a recipe, help around the house, make crafts, play outside, try sidewalk chalk.
You have to get creative.
The Source
This story is from an interview with child therapist Nicole Runyon.
