healthy social media habits Archives

In today’s digital age, it’s not uncommon to find teens and young adults immersed in the world of social media. As parents, it can be worrying to see hours slip away as your child scrolls through their phone. At Empower U, having worked with thousands of teens across Australia, we understand this challenge intimately. But let’s be honest: Smart phones and social media aren’t going to go away anytime soon. However, we also know that with the right approach, it’s possible to turn excessive screen time into healthy, productive habits. In this article we provide some practical tips for you and your child to change the conversation.

Understanding the Appeal of Social Media

To effectively guide your teen, it’s crucial to first understand social media’s allure. It’s a world of connection, self-expression, and virtual exploration that’s especially appealing to young minds. Recognising this allows you to approach the topic with empathy rather than outright restriction. The reality is, many young adults want to disconnect from social media but it’s the fear of missing out that keeps them glued to their devices. According to this article by Headspace, 3 in 5 young people feel the amount of information on social media is overwhelming.

The Impact of Social Media on Teen Well-being

Social media isn’t all bad. It can offer a sense of belonging and a platform for creative expression. However, issues arise with overuse – from disrupted sleep patterns to heightened anxiety. Balancing these positives and negatives is key in helping your teen navigate their digital world.

Establishing Open Dialogue About Screen Time

Open, non-confrontational conversations are essential. Start by expressing your understanding and concerns, and ask your teen to share their perspective. This fosters mutual understanding and sets the stage for collaborative solutions.

Creating a Family Media Plan

Develop a family media plan that includes agreed-upon screen time limits and screen-free zones in your home. This shouldn’t be a set of imposed rules but a mutual agreement that respects both your concerns and their needs.

Encouraging Healthy Social Media Habits

Encourage your teen to engage in mindful social media use. This includes choosing quality content over quantity, being aware of their online time, and understanding the importance of privacy and safety. Discuss the benefits of regular digital detoxes to refresh their minds.

The Role of Alternative Activities

Introducing engaging activities outside of the digital realm is crucial. Whether it’s sports, arts, or family outings, these alternatives provide a much-needed balance. Empower U workshops, for instance, offer a fantastic opportunity for teens to immerse themselves in enriching experiences that extend beyond the screen.

Leading by Example: Parental Influence on Media Use

Your own media habits can significantly influence your teen’s. By setting a positive example – perhaps by having screen-free times yourself – you reinforce the message that there’s a world beyond the digital screen worth exploring.

Recognising and Addressing Problematic Usage

Be vigilant for signs of problematic social media use, such as neglecting responsibilities or withdrawing from real-world interactions. If these signs appear, it may be time to seek professional advice or adjust your family media plan.

Empower U: Transforming Screen Time into Growth Opportunities

At Empower U, we’ve seen incredible transformations in teens and young adults who attend our events. Our workshops provide a platform for young people to learn, engage, and grow in a supportive environment. We focus on turning the time spent online into opportunities for personal development and growth.

Fostering a Balanced Digital Life

Achieving a balance between online and offline life is a journey of continuous effort and understanding. At Empower U, we are committed to supporting families through this journey. Our goal is to empower teens with the skills they need to navigate both the digital and real world with confidence and wisdom.

Explore Empower U Workshops

To discover more about how Empower U can help your teen thrive in today’s digital age, visit our website. Join our community and explore our range of workshops that are designed to foster personal growth and healthy digital habits. Together, we can guide your teen towards a balanced and fulfilling digital life.

Brent Williams

Brent is the founder and a key presenter of Empower U, a program aimed at motivating and teaching life skills to teenagers and young adults. His work primarily focuses on empowering today’s youth to gain the skills and motivation they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Brent’s approach integrates personal development with practical life skills, aiming to help young individuals leap ahead of their peers.

empoweru.com.au

It’s been 15 years since the launch of Tomorrow’s Youth’s first ever Empower U Program, and we’re not slowing down! Research shows that 51% of teens prefer to communicate digitally rather than in person (even with friends) and 43% of 18-24 year olds say that texting is just as meaningful as an actual conversation with someone over the phone. Because of this, it is more important than ever to build strong communication skills and emotional intelligence in teenagers. So, how do we go about empowering youth in the digital age?

Empower U is designed to teach teenagers and young adults practical skills on how to communicate effectively, set and achieve their goals, take control of their lives and embody a new sense of self-worth, direction and empowerment. Since the launch of the first program, the change in youth behaviour has been made so apparent, most notably due to social media, and what has now been coined “screen addiction”.

One of our graduates, Elise Marcianti, who was recently interviewed on Sunrise, has spoken about how Empower U has helped her take control of her life and has given her healthy habits around using social media. Elise is a survivor of Anorexia Nervosa, and social media had a huge negative impact on her during that time. Elise said,

“Social media is so damaging for people suffering from eating disorders. No matter how hard I tried when I lost weight, there would always be people on social media that I could keep striving towards, but never get there.”

Empower U was the catalyst for change for Elise, “Empower U was a massive turn around for me, and it wasn’t only that weekend it helps you and gets you motivated, but it sets you up long term too.” Empower U helped Elise on her road to recovery and to commit to keeping herself happy and healthy by giving her strategies to have healthy habits around social media.

We are living in an increasingly digitalised world, where technology will continue to have both positive and negative impacts on young adults, and where parents play an important role in monitoring and managing these impacts. Research shows that 65% of parents with teenagers confiscate phones or remove Internet privileges as a form of punishment. But instead of using tech-devices as a means of behavioural control, such as reward or threat, we need to be educating our future generations on how to combine quality use of technology with emotional intelligence.

Parents also play a vital role in how their teenagers value the use of technology. Parents should be positive role models, which means nurturing meaningful parent-teen and teen-technology relationships. It’s important not to encourage kids to think about screen time in terms of gratification alone. Instead, it should enhance learning, help develop one’s sense of self, or facilitate positive connections.

Positioning non-screen time as an equally attractive use of time is also important. Like everything, technology-use is about balance, so encouraging, educating and empowering our teens to actively make their own decision to value the present, to be independent and confident in communicating face-to-face, are invaluable tools to imbed.

However, the change in youth behaviour is more powerful and sustainable if teens feel they’ve made the decision independently. It’s important to introduce and set challenges with your teens. The challenge could be not looking at your phone for the first and last 30 minutes of each day, turning off notifications during school/homework time, or having a technology-free day with the family once every few weeks. It’s important to have an open dialogue about how everyone is feeling during these challenges and understand that it’s not an overnight change, but a total perspective shift in what is truly valuable, remembering that growth and change takes time and that some days will be easier than others.

To learn more about Empower U, download our latest Program Guide.