Healing the Tigress

BONUS EPISODE 5: Re-Evaluating Our Own Screen Habits and Raising This Anxious Generation

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Last year, we read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, and we've been having a lot of discussion between the two of us since finishing the book. Because we are so invested in mental health topics, the topic of our children’s mental health is naturally really important to us too. This book talked about "How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness" by "overprotecting our kids in the real world and under-protecting them online."

So in this episode, we wanted to discuss some of the things we’ve learned but also talk about some of the things we’ve done or plan to do with our kids surrounding the topics of using smart phones/screens and social media. If you haven't read the book yet, that's okay! In fact, we know the thought of reading it might be even more anxiety-inducing. We experienced it ourselves, and maybe this episode can ease you into some of the topics.

But as we talk about in the episode, it's also not all doom and gloom. In fact, arming ourselves with the knowledge now can further empower us to change the narrative for our kids before they hit their middle or high school years. And if you are already at that stage, it's also never too late either. 

We also know that a big part of the discussion around smart phone and social media use is our own screen time use and that sometimes modeling that can be the biggest hurdle and challenge. There is no one size fits all, but we do think it is important to have the conversations with our community because this is not an individual problem to solve. We need community effort to battle it so none of our kids feel left out and hence causing parents to cave in. 

So we invite you to listen to our more personal takes on what we've learned and what we're hoping we can implement with our kids so that they can have a good hold and control on their own mental wellbeing without being controlled by their devices.

We talk about:

  • What our relationship was like with screens like in our youth
  • How that relationship with screens changed when we became adults
  • How screen time and our thoughts about it has evolve over time from having babies to toddlers to school-aged kids
  • What we're working on or have worked on since reading The Anxious Generation
  • How we're working with our community and people around us to help our kids
  • The importance of real world experiences and less overprotecting in the real world and more vigilance in the online world

This episode isn’t to judge or preach on what we think anyone should be doing because all families and needs are different, but we invite you to listen with an open mind and continue the ever evolving conversation with people around you too! Hope it sparks some good conversation!

Resources mentioned:

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

Look Up and Around! by Christine Chiu, LMFT

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