Phone time poses both risks and benefits to kids

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Phone time may not be as bad as you think.

Of course there are bad qualities, it can also be beneficial to children’s education and mental health.

“Doom-scrolling or infinite scrolling through TikTok and Instagram-- there’s not a lot of development that is happening in intellectual curiosity,” CEO of Clayborne Education, Lee Elberson said.

While researchers are still looking into exactly why, Elberson says phones and social media could impact a student when taking a test.

“It’s hard for me to say definitively. Research is starting to show that likely the drop in test scores, it does a few different things to students,” he says. “One we know for sure, attention span has dropped by 50% in the last decade and a half.”

But that does not mean phones can not still have benefits for kids.

“Technology can be a positive around accessing social support. You know, there are studies where adolescents report that having access to social media helps them feel less lonely, more supported,” Assistant Professor at UVA Family Medicine, Joseph Tan said.

It’s all about moderation, Tan says.

“I think there is an appropriate role for some monitoring on the parent’s perspective, and asking some questions about how is my child using social media,” Tan said. “Do they know some ways to be safe online, and to navigate difficult interactions, or potentially harmful conversations?”

This generation is the first to grow up with this kind of technology. Tam says that with a solid support system, technology can continue to have positive impacts on your children.

“Trying to approach it with some curiosity and maintaining a positive connection with your child,” Tan said, “so that they feel that they can come to you with conversations about how different interactions are going with them offline or online and see you as a resource and a source of support as the parent.”

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