My Daughter has given up Snapchat... and the results could give other parents pause for thought!!!
Okay, so it was a forced break from Snapchat, because of the constant concerned stance from me and my mother saying 'she is a changed girl because of that phone!'
I had become concerned over time that the drift was widening and I was playing catch up in the emotions department. My daughter was short tempered, with disturbed sleep and was generally difficult to be around. I was witnessing her becoming tranced into a digital world of ideals and perfection. She was agitated and life weighed heavy.
We agreed that I would give her a basic Samsung phone that could not operate the much obsessed social media apps. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, but neither was spending time with her when she had her phone quite frankly. After the phone hand over, the change was not gradual, it was nearly immediate and dramatic. Within 3 hours she was sitting downstairs for longer, making conversation about school and taking an interest in my working life and swimming. She was also more tolerant with her younger brother, which believe me she doesn't find easy.
The following morning I had my daughters phone. It was switched on and was bleeping and pinging every 90 seconds or so as it had been doing throughout the previous evening and night. Two hours into the morning, my daughter had a total of 46 notifications that she would have been required to respond to. 8 o'clock that night she had 89 beeps (couldn't say what they were) Streaks ...we will get onto that in a minute!, messages, video clips. I was irritated listening to it, never mind opening them and responding.
Streaks !!!! They are a rally that your daughter or son needs to keep going with the friend. A sort of Hi.. Hi everyday with a photo attached to ALL the contacts on their Snapchat (probably most of her year) but some people do it 6 times a day. If only 10 of the friends do that, it is 60 streaks your son or daughter has to open and maybe respond to even if that person doesn't even raise an eyebrow to her/him in the dinner hall. Young people spend an average of 4 hours on screen time a day, most of this is staring at a phone screen.
DO YOU FEEL TIRED YET?.. I DO !
My daughters sleep has improved, she reports feeling relieved and more energised. Of course it is only a temporary break, but I am hoping that when she has experienced the benefits of time away and will be able to use her better judgement when she is again allowed back on the apps.
OK you want to not think about it for a while, its giving you a headache.. well we will leave it there, but just so you know, the results are in, she's sat drawing with me at the kitchen table as I write now.
MY NAME IS NOT SHADOW KING, MY SON HAS CHANGED IT AND I CAN'T CHANGE IT FOR 90 DAYS!!
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