Worried About Social Media & Technology?
 
Worried About Social Media & Technology?
Written By Micah Clark   |   06.19.18
Reading Time: < 1 minute

If you are concerned about raising children or grandchildren in this high tech age in which screen time is a whole new phenomenon, then you’re not alone.  A poll from Gallup finds that screens are a significant concern of parents.  Here are some of the polling firm’s findings from a poll of 1,271 U.S. parents of children from birth to age 10.

  • Two-thirds of parents worry — either a little (53%) or a lot (12%) — that their child spends too much time on electronic devices.
  • More than four in 10 parents (43%) say they worry that their child has trouble keeping themselves entertained without electronic devices.
  • Parents of boys (70%) worry a bit more than parents of girls (63%) that their child spends too much time using electronic devices.
  • Boys’ parents (45%) also worry more than girls’ parents (39%) that their child cannot occupy themselves without an electronic device.
  • About a third of parents whose children engage in three or more hours of screen time per weekday worry that their child is not keeping up academically (36%) or has trouble getting along with other children (34%).
  • In contrast, only 26% of parents whose children engage in less screen time worry about their academics, and 20% worry about their socialization.
  • Parents of children who spend three or more hours on screen-based play per weekday are less satisfied with their child’s development in teamwork, discipline and social skills when compared with parents of children who engage in less screen-based play.

Read more: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (The Atlantic)


This article was originally published by AFA of Indiana.

Micah Clark
In 1989 Micah Clark graduated from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Micah interned as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives’ Republican staff and later became an Assistant Campaign Manager for a State Senator. Micah then served as a legislative assistant for Citizens Concerned for the Constitution. He served as the Indiana Family Institute’s Director of Public Policy, and later as its Executive Director, throughout the 1990’s. Micah is the only person to have served with all three of Indiana’s top statewide pro-family organizations. In November 2001, Micah became the Executive...
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