Dr. Gregg Jantz Coaches Parents Through the Anxieties of the Smartphone Generation
Something around 73% of American teens own a smartphone, and almost all the rest have some sort of access to tablets or the internet.(1) And according to new studies, Children spend an average of over 7 hours a day on digital media.
While smartphones deliver a powerful computer that teens can keep in their pockets to access all the information they need, it’s not without its hazards. For one, teens are subjected to more high school interactions and are potentially at a greater risk of bullying, but there’s also more attachment to social media and a growing habit of endless online browsing, too.
In his book Ten Tips for Parenting the Smartphone Generation, Dr. Gregg Jantz discusses the potential harm of overexposure and healthy ways parents can restrict usage.
“The smartphone revolution really began with the iPhone back in 2008, didn’t it? If we look back to the years between 2008-2010, we can see the growing statistical shift in teen anxiety and depression,” Dr. Gregory Jantz says.
The iPhone saturated the market in the immediate years after its release in 2008 so that it was a household item by 2011. A study reports that between the years 2010-2015, signs of anxiety and depression in teens soared 33%.(2) Suicide and suicide attempts among teens also saw a surge. Parents are likely to face a little conflict when getting between teen and their smartphones, but as Dr. Gregg Jantz demonstrates in his book, it’s a necessary battle.
“Sometimes, the only thing preventing kids from enjoying their lives to the fullest, of letting go of their social pressures and grade school anxieties, is limiting exposure to smartphones,” Dr. Gregory Jantz says.
In his book, Dr. Gregg Jantz gives parents ten Bible-based and well-researched ways to help protect kids as they use technology and are exposed to today’s media. He believes that one of the biggest challenges for parents today is helping their kids avoid overexposure, and stresses that parents become the example-setters in their kids’ lives. He also provides a few methods of monitoring and limiting the information your child is exposed to.
At 113 pages, his book is a short and insightful dissertation on what it is to parent children who have access to the far reaches of information online through smartphones. And seeing as smartphones are so commonplace (and don’t appear to be falling out of trend anytime soon), parents with children of any age can benefit from Dr. Gregg Jantz’s profound book.
Citations:
https://venturebeat.com/2015/04/08/pew-study-most-teens-own-smartphones-go-online-every-day-and-use-facebook/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminiter/2017/11/21/are-smartphones-killing-teens/#671092c81a2b
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1 https://www.amazon.com/Gregory-L.-Jantz/e/B001ITVQ6E
2 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/experts/gregory-l-jantz-phd
3 https://twitter.com/gregoryjantzphd?lang=en