ParentIn Burlington Hosts “It’s Complicated: Teens, Technology, and Mental Health”
Are you a caregiver of an adolescent in the Burlington area? Sign up for our ParentIN Burlington program to receive text and email tips and resources to support your teens to make healthy choices while their brains are developing. Click here to sign up. You’ll also be the first to receive information about our ParentIN workshops, like the one we hosted November 16th with Erin Walsh from Spark and Stitch Institute. Hundreds attended our live workshop with her entitled “It’s Complicated: Teens, Technology and Mental Health.” In it Erin shared the ways teens say social media and technology are helping them feel more connected to friends and provides important support and the ways that that same social media use is also harming wellbeing and leading to stress and anxiety. Instead of framing tech use as all “good” or all “bad,” Erin used brain science, warmth, and humor to identify key strategies that promote resilience and digital well-being.
This event was the most popular virtual event we’ve ever hosted with well over 340 people who registered showing just how much this topic is at the top of so many minds. Erin gave us some questions to think about as caregivers and try to answer for our own family:
What are your teenager’s digital strengths? How are they using technology in ways that seem to benefit their mental health? How might you mirror this back to them?
Have you noticed any concerning changes in your teen’s behavior or mood related to a specific screen time activity or habit? Describe them. If so, what are some potential ways you might address your concerns with your teen?
Here are a few articles Erin Walsh recommends to help us keep learning:
New Healthy Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence
Why the Shift From Control to Connection is Key To Mental Health
Teens and Social Media: Is There a Case to Delay?
