Phone Habits of Teens and How To Improve them

Here are some rules and regulations that can help with Phone Usage in Teens:

1. Phones need to be charged in a common area in the kitchen, right next to the parental phones.  Yes, dear parents, you must plug your phones in next to your teens and lead by example.  This will reduce a lot of whining and non-compliance.
2. If the phone is not where it should be in the AM when you wake up, then that is a 24hr confiscation.
3. We do not need our phones as alarm clocks – there are lots of alarm clock options at Target/Walmart.
4. Most Phone Service Carriers have family apps that can help you set limits on data, set limit on night time hours, check on night time phone activity, etc.  Invasion of privacy you say?  Well you bought the phone, you pay for the plan, therefore its your phone.  Please make the Smart Rules for phone use and make these rules from the beginning.  If there is complaining, confiscate the phone.
5. Phones off 1-2hrs before bed because phones before bed are one of the main reason for poor sleep (post on this coming soon).
6. Phones need to be on do not disturb or off during homework time.  A little known fact – every time you interrupt your work to check a text or a snapchat story, it takes 7-10min to get back on task.  That can add up to hours of homework.  The hours of homework is a standard complaint from teens and a common reason they put forth for not getting enough sleep.
7. Phone pass codes need to always be available to parents at anytime. A great place to list passwords is near the charging station.
8. Teens must understand that the phones may be checked by parents at any time.  (responsible social media etiquette post coming soon)
9. No phones at the table at home or at restaurants.
10. Limit phone use in the car, because that is one of the few times you get alone with a teen while you “uber” them from one activity to the next.  This is a perfect time to chat and catch up.
11. Parents – do not text and drive, that just sets up a terrible example for your soon to be driving teen.  Besides, Texting and Driving hurst and kills more people then drinking and driving.
12. Please discuss and reiterate and lead by example on the following:  No texting while people are speaking to you.  Dear parents, please put your phones down when your child wants to tell you something. This is a common mistake made by all of us busy parents.  We tell the kids to wait until we are done posting, checking, or emailing.  You must engage the kids immediately, especially teens, or your chance to hear something important may vanish in the seconds it took you to finish what you were doing on your phone.