It truly was astonishing.  At one point the show played back a recording of the teen (in her own voice) shouting profanities at her parents and even stating that she 'couldn't wait until they were dead' because they had taken her cell phone away from her--truly it was not only an eye-opening moment for the audience, but to the teen herself who finally heard what she sounded like to her parents.

Social media is a good tool--but ONLY if it is used with limited amounts and never to replace the 'real time' people spend in the 'real world' engaging socially, face-to-face with 'real friends.  As this show effectively points out, there is a time as kids grow up that social media can become an obsession and can overtake a teen's reality--often to the point of the guest on this particular episode.  We would recommend if you have the time, sit down and watch these snippets and take a good hard look at your teen (and pre-teens) to see if this is becoming an issue in your household.

Here is a link to those snippets of the Dr Phil program:  ADDICTED TO SOCIAL MEDIA

Play Unplugged helps keep your kids engaged in 'real play' activities.  We are not affiliated with the Dr. Phil program in any way, shape or form--nor has he or any of his staff endorsed Play Unplugged. We wish we certainly were, since we appear to have similar goals when it comes to families, but that has not happened!  We point out this episode so that parents can begin to understand how addicting social media can become (and sometimes is) in their kids' lives.  Play Unplugged's goals and overall mission is to also help people find a healthy balance when it comes to technology--and especially for families searching to strengthen their relationships with one another and not have their kids become so focused on social media for such feelings of validation, accomplishment or a general feeling that social media is the only place where the teen 'belongs.'

Of course the activities and time spent with a child's own family can certainly help reduce this addiction from developing, since the family unit and parents are the one great and influential source of that validation and acceptance children desire.  Play Unplugged Home version allows parents to become more engaged with their kids and share new activities and time together.

Obviously we as parents do not want to see screen addictions get this far.  It is imperative that all parents keep an eye on if their children are spending too much time on cell phones (and who is on the other end) as well as any other electronic devices such as video games, television, computer time, etc...

So if you feel your child's usage has crossed the line, here are some tips from Dr. Phil's blog to help reign those bad habits in: http://drphil.com/articles/article/632

 

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