How to Help Your Kids Dodge Digital Distractions

Hands down, the biggest question I’m asked at my parent workshops is, “How can we help our kids if they are spending too much time with screens?”

Great question. And here’s another place you can find the answer.

I’ve been collaborating with Focus on the Family a lot lately, getting to know their leaders (my podcast interviewing Jim and John from the Focus Daily Show), speaking for them, writing articles, shooting podcasts and doing radio shows. It’s been fun working with them in this role, so much in fact that they have brought me on as a “Focus on the Family Associate.”

This doesn’t mean we’re married… but we’re dating.   🙂

In short, I provide them with content, and they plug much of our content at TheSource4Parents.com. A win/win for both ministries.

They just released one of my new articles on their site with four tips moms and dads can use to help their kids who might be clocking in too much screen time.

Here’s just a snippet of, How to Help Your Kids Dodge Digital Distractions:

“Why does my son waste his life playing Fortnite? If I don’t monitor him, he’ll play for 12 hours straight!”

“How can I get my daughter to realize there’s more to life than her Instagram feed?”

These are two of the most common complaints I hear from moms and dads. Life has always been full of distractions, but today’s distractions have two major differences: more accessibility and less accountability.

Want to play a video game? You don’t even need a game system or a smartphone. That old iPod Touch you forgot about can download most apps just the same. But in a world where the average age a kid gets their first smartphone is 10.3 years, most young people just use their phone. Fortnite is a free download. And other hit games like Apex Legends will soon be as well.

Want to chat with someone on social media? It’s not like a decade ago when you had to be on a computer connected to the internet. Now young people’s favorite social media apps (Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok) go everywhere with them. Name any social media app — it’s in their pocket and available 24/7. Unlimited accessibility. And because these devices follow our kids into the privacy of school, their bedroom, the bathroom and everywhere else, most young people have zero accountability.

It has become increasingly difficult to pry our kids’ eyes from their screens. Their favorite pastimes are only a click away, and for most young people, these fun digital activities are disconnecting them more and more from us — and from others. How can we connect with our kids while teaching them discernment and maybe even a little self-control?

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