{"id":3518,"date":"2026-08-27T23:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T23:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/?p=3518"},"modified":"2026-08-27T23:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T23:43:12","slug":"fixing-teen-summer-screen-time-habits-before-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/?p=3518","title":{"rendered":"Fixing Teen Summer Screen Time Habits Before School"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tIf your teen spent their summer on a screen, they\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to the National Health Interview Survey<\/a>, half of teens spend four hours a day or more on their phones. In the summer, all that glorious, unstructured free time means it\u2019s likely even longer. When it comes to sleep<\/a>, those hours of blue light<\/a> can take a toll.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cScreen use can delay bedtime and the blue light from the phone can disrupt sleep signals, but it\u2019s not just that,\u201d says psychotherapist Katie Rose<\/a>, LCSW. \u201cStudies<\/a> have found that teens who keep their phones in their bedrooms get less sleep and report poorer sleep quality, even when the phone is turned off but remains in the bedroom.\u201d Teens may be more likely to think about notifications or feel the urge to check their phone \u2014 or else they\u2019ll be woken up by pings or vibrations.<\/p>\n

\n\t<\/p>\n
\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Meta<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\tRelated story
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t‘Social Media’s Big Tobacco Moment’: What Parents Say about Meta’s $17.1 Billion Dollar Settlement\t\t<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n

\t
\n<\/section>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd those hours of sleep are critical for teens<\/a>, whose brains are still developing. \u201cIf you shortchange your sleep, you shortchange your health and life,\u201d says clinical sleep educator Lauri Leadley, CCSH, RPSGT, founder and president at Valley Sleep Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut phones are addictive<\/a> and hard to turn off once you\u2019ve fallen deep into a scroll. If your teen likes TikTok (and who doesn\u2019t), it\u2019s even harder. Those short-form videos are \u201cuniquely good at delivering an endless stream of rewards to the teen brain,\u201d says Rose, \u201cwhich keeps the brain engaged and makes it much harder to disengage, even if teens genuinely want to go to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut with back-to-school steadily creeping up, your teen\u2019s schedule is about to shift, and late nights of texting and TikTok will hit a lot harder when they\u2019re waking up at 7 a.m. again. So how do we get them back on track?<\/p>\n

\n\tStart by getting them off their screens from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Rose says. In return, give them a little more freedom for the last few weeks of summer. \u201cThink about how you can make their offline life rewarding enough to compete with their online life,\u201d says Rose. This might mean filling the gap with other activities that activate the brain\u2019s reward system, Rose says, like time with friends, sports, creative hobbies, music, exercise, or privileges they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the parent, you should also lead by example and model good sleep hygiene<\/a>. \u201cShow them that we\u2019re all putting our phones on the charger \u2014 away from the nightstand \u2014 and that we\u2019re winding down now for sleep,\u201d suggests Leadley. \u201cNo calls after a certain time, and \u2018calls\u2019 is synonymous with texts, chats, socials.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd know that it might take two to three weeks for your teens to recalibrate to their school schedule, Leadley adds. <\/p>\n

\n\tRemember, too, that this will be a conversation with your teen. As much as you\u2019re enforcing rules, you should also hear them out about their screen time needs; their phone is their connection to their social life, after all. \u201cWork together to find a solution,\u201d Rose says. \u201cOffer plenty of replacements for their phone time \u2026 and focus on connection with your teen over controlling them. Teens are much more likely to buy into limits when they feel respected and included in the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If your teen spent their summer on a screen, they\u2019re not alone. According to the National Health Interview Survey, half of teens spend four hours a day or more on their phones. In the summer, all that glorious, unstructured free time means it\u2019s likely even longer. When it comes to sleep, those hours of blue light can take a toll. \u201cScreen use can delay bedtime and the blue light from the phone can disrupt sleep signals, but it\u2019s not just that,\u201d says psychotherapist Katie Rose, LCSW. \u201cStudies have found that teens who keep their phones in their bedrooms get less sleep and report poorer sleep quality, even when the phone is turned off but remains in the bedroom.\u201d Teens may be more likely to think about notifications or feel the urge to check their phone \u2014 or else they\u2019ll be woken up by pings or vibrations. Related story ‘Social Media’s Big Tobacco Moment’: What Parents Say about Meta’s $17.1 Billion Dollar Settlement And those hours of sleep are critical for teens, whose brains are still developing. \u201cIf you shortchange your sleep, you shortchange your health and life,\u201d says clinical sleep educator Lauri Leadley, CCSH, RPSGT, founder and president at Valley Sleep Center. But phones are addictive and hard to turn off once you\u2019ve fallen deep into a scroll. If your teen likes TikTok (and who doesn\u2019t), it\u2019s even harder. Those short-form videos are \u201cuniquely good at delivering an endless stream of rewards to the teen brain,\u201d says Rose, \u201cwhich keeps the brain engaged and makes it much harder to disengage, even if teens genuinely want to go to bed.\u201d But with back-to-school steadily creeping up, your teen\u2019s schedule is about to shift, and late nights of texting and TikTok will hit a lot harder when they\u2019re waking up at 7 a.m. again. So how do we get them back on track? Start by getting them off their screens from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Rose says. In return, give them a little more freedom for the last few weeks of summer. \u201cThink about how you can make their offline life rewarding enough to compete with their online life,\u201d says Rose. This might mean filling the gap with other activities that activate the brain\u2019s reward system, Rose says, like time with friends, sports, creative hobbies, music, exercise, or privileges they\u2019ve earned. As the parent, you should also lead by example and model good sleep hygiene. \u201cShow them that we\u2019re all putting our phones on the charger \u2014 away from the nightstand \u2014 and that we\u2019re winding down now for sleep,\u201d suggests Leadley. \u201cNo calls after a certain time, and \u2018calls\u2019 is synonymous with texts, chats, socials.\u201d And know that it might take two to three weeks for your teens to recalibrate to their school schedule, Leadley adds. Remember, too, that this will be a conversation with your teen. As much as you\u2019re enforcing rules, you should also hear them out about their screen time needs; their phone is their connection to their social life, after all. \u201cWork together to find a solution,\u201d Rose says. \u201cOffer plenty of replacements for their phone time \u2026 and focus on connection with your teen over controlling them. Teens are much more likely to buy into limits when they feel respected and included in the conversation.\u201d Source link<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-female-health-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}