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itsbabytime
LIF Adult
Member since 11/05 9644 total posts
Name:
Me
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Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Do you restrict your teen’s phone screen time and if so, how? Do you use the phone screen time settings or some other app or do you outright physically take the phone. I take my teens phones when they go to sleep to charge downstairs so I am talking about during the wake hours. Also, what about when you are in the car on a long trip. Do you restrict or just let them use it the whole ride? If you do limit- how much time a day and how?
I’m really struggling with this because I’m not sure if I’m over the top, not restrictive enough or normal but I have to say I despise these phones and I think no good can come of all this screen time!!!!!
ETA: my teens are 13 and 15 (almost 16)
Message edited 7/25/2023 2:21:58 PM.
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Posted 7/24/23 6:05 PM  |
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mami49
LIF Infant
Member since 9/11 349 total posts
Name:
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
I wish I had an answer to this but just more questions...what age specifically are you talking about? I ask because I have a soon to be 13 year old and he does not have a phone yet. I hesitate because he has an iPad, a chrome book, a pc, hand held gaming devices, an xbox, a house phone etc..so he has ways to communicate with his friends but with a phone it would be on him at all times and it would be even harder to get him to take a break from it. It is addictive to adults even more so for kids I think...I always wonder if I am being paranoid. I remember having a beeper as a teen and my parents being afraid it was going to lead me down a wrong path 
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| Posted 7/25/23 12:21 AM |
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
No, never did. One is still a teen and one an "adult" now.
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| Posted 7/25/23 8:31 AM |
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ali120206
2 Boys
Member since 7/06 17792 total posts
Name:
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Moms of teens - phone usage question…
I don't restrict during waking hours or on long car trips. I have found the more restrictive I am - the more likely they are to blow everything else off when they have the opportunity to use their phone.
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| Posted 7/25/23 10:03 AM |
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NervousNell
Just another chapter in life..
Member since 11/09 54921 total posts
Name:
..being a mommy and being a wife!
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Posted by ali120206
I don't restrict during waking hours or on long car trips. I have found the more restrictive I am - the more likely they are to blow everything else off when they have the opportunity to use their phone.
Same.
And on a long car trip, what else is she supposed to do?
I stare at my phone at lot on long trips too. It passes the time
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| Posted 7/25/23 10:10 AM |
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itsbabytime
LIF Adult
Member since 11/05 9644 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Posted by mami49
I wish I had an answer to this but just more questions...what age specifically are you talking about? I ask because I have a soon to be 13 year old and he does not have a phone yet. I hesitate because he has an iPad, a chrome book, a pc, hand held gaming devices, an xbox, a house phone etc..so he has ways to communicate with his friends but with a phone it would be on him at all times and it would be even harder to get him to take a break from it. It is addictive to adults even more so for kids I think...I always wonder if I am being paranoid. I remember having a beeper as a teen and my parents being afraid it was going to lead me down a wrong path
13.5 and almost 16 - both of my kids got phones when they started middle school in 7th.
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| Posted 7/25/23 2:23 PM |
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itsbabytime
LIF Adult
Member since 11/05 9644 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Posted by NervousNell
Posted by ali120206
I don't restrict during waking hours or on long car trips. I have found the more restrictive I am - the more likely they are to blow everything else off when they have the opportunity to use their phone.
Same.
And on a long car trip, what else is she supposed to do?
I stare at my phone at lot on long trips too. It passes the time
The car thing - I just feel like they are missing out on so much by not doing what we did as kids- take in the surroundings, be aware of what’s going on around you, family discussions, you learn so much from that!
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| Posted 7/25/23 2:25 PM |
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Posted by itsbabytime
Posted by NervousNell
Posted by ali120206
I don't restrict during waking hours or on long car trips. I have found the more restrictive I am - the more likely they are to blow everything else off when they have the opportunity to use their phone.
Same.
And on a long car trip, what else is she supposed to do?
I stare at my phone at lot on long trips too. It passes the time
The car thing - I just feel like they are missing out on so much by not doing what we did as kids- take in the surroundings, be aware of what’s going on around you, family discussions, you learn so much from that!
After awhile cows and horses and food signs get boring too so I get it. We probably would have all loved having something else to make the time go by faster.
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| Posted 7/25/23 2:36 PM |
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NervousNell
Just another chapter in life..
Member since 11/09 54921 total posts
Name:
..being a mommy and being a wife!
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Posted by itsbabytime
Posted by NervousNell
Posted by ali120206
I don't restrict during waking hours or on long car trips. I have found the more restrictive I am - the more likely they are to blow everything else off when they have the opportunity to use their phone.
Same.
And on a long car trip, what else is she supposed to do?
I stare at my phone at lot on long trips too. It passes the time
The car thing - I just feel like they are missing out on so much by not doing what we did as kids- take in the surroundings, be aware of what’s going on around you, family discussions, you learn so much from that!
Yeah, that's not really my thing either. I get really bored on car trips and I'm not looking at the scenery or discussing life. Singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall or things like that trigger my anxiety. I just want to get there.
And my daughter has a lot of anxiety when on long trips so anything that can district and calm her- aka her phone- I'm all for.
When I was a kid my sister and i used to pack our walkmans and tons of tapes, coloring books, magazines, word searches- it was like the cell phones of the 1980s 
So pretty much the same thing- distractions for us- so my parents could have peace n the front seat- without the electronic aspect of today
Message edited 7/25/2023 3:32:22 PM.
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| Posted 7/25/23 3:30 PM |
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busymomonli
Resident Insomniac
Member since 4/13 2050 total posts
Name:
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Moms of teens - phone usage question…
My kids ae 20 and 23 now but I have never restricted usage, but I never found them doing anything bad on their phones so just never had a reason. I get mad when they use it at the dinner table, so I'll make them put it down but that's it.
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| Posted 7/25/23 4:28 PM |
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lululu
LIF Adult
Member since 7/05 9511 total posts
Name:
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Posted by windyweather21
Posted by itsbabytime
Posted by NervousNell
Posted by ali120206
I don't restrict during waking hours or on long car trips. I have found the more restrictive I am - the more likely they are to blow everything else off when they have the opportunity to use their phone.
Same.
And on a long car trip, what else is she supposed to do?
I stare at my phone at lot on long trips too. It passes the time
The car thing - I just feel like they are missing out on so much by not doing what we did as kids- take in the surroundings, be aware of what’s going on around you, family discussions, you learn so much from that!
After awhile cows and horses and food signs get boring too so I get it. We probably would have all loved having something else to make the time go by faster.
If we are on a scenic drive in a place that we have never been to we will make our kids put their phone away but we go skiing most weekends in the winter. It's the same drive over and over. I want to pull my hair out and it's less than three hours. I can't imagine telling them no phone that whole time. And I definitely dont want to engage in a family discussion the entire time either!
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| Posted 7/25/23 5:47 PM |
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Posted by lululu
Posted by windyweather21
Posted by itsbabytime
Posted by NervousNell
Posted by ali120206
I don't restrict during waking hours or on long car trips. I have found the more restrictive I am - the more likely they are to blow everything else off when they have the opportunity to use their phone.
Same.
And on a long car trip, what else is she supposed to do?
I stare at my phone at lot on long trips too. It passes the time
The car thing - I just feel like they are missing out on so much by not doing what we did as kids- take in the surroundings, be aware of what’s going on around you, family discussions, you learn so much from that!
After awhile cows and horses and food signs get boring too so I get it. We probably would have all loved having something else to make the time go by faster.
If we are on a scenic drive in a place that we have never been to we will make our kids put their phone away but we go skiing most weekends in the winter. It's the same drive over and over. I want to pull my hair out and it's less than three hours. I can't imagine telling them no phone that whole time. And I definitely dont want to engage in a family discussion the entire time either!
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| Posted 7/26/23 9:12 AM |
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ali120206
2 Boys
Member since 7/06 17792 total posts
Name:
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
Same. Or if there is something worth seeing - I tell them. Most long drives we take though are extremely boring and if I didn't let them use their phones they would fight.
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| Posted 7/26/23 9:24 AM |
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FirstMate
My lil cowboy
Member since 10/10 7790 total posts
Name:
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
My son is 12 but I limit Tik tok and other apps to 1 hour. Otherwise, he would be happy to lie in bed all day watching videos instead of being social with his friends. I just use the time limits that are installed on the iphone.
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| Posted 7/26/23 11:13 AM |
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LSP2005
Bunny kisses are so cute!
Member since 5/05 19458 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: Moms of teens - phone usage question…
I don’t limit screen time and my kids are in high school. They know school comes first. If they were having grade, social, or other issues then I would feel differently.
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| Posted 7/26/23 2:44 PM |
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KarenK122
The Journey is the Destination
Member since 5/05 4431 total posts
Name:
Karen
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Moms of teens - phone usage question…
My kids are both in HS. The only thing I really do is take their phones at night to charge and also during dinner if we are eating together. I don't want them on their phones at 2 in the morning and if we are eating together they need to learn to have a conversation. Every now and then I will say, hey why don't you put down the phone and read a book/crochet/watch a movie or something like that. I'm usually ignored lol.
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| Posted 7/26/23 5:24 PM |
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