Last week we hosted a fantastic Meet the Bloggers event. Three local bloggers were invited to join us, Anna from Anna’s Family Kitchen, Gem The Organised Mum and Jo The Guilty Mother to talk through their success stories, the reality of blogging and to share some top blogging tips with our audience.
One of the questions the panel was asked was around the use of devices and the fact that we’re using them for our day-to-day busy lives, our jobs and socially. How do we balance this to ensure that bad habits aren’t passed on to our children? This was a very timely question as Anti bullying week falls this week and as parents we worry about the affects of social media and over usage of devices on our kids.
Here are some of the simple ideas that were shared:
- no phones at the dinner table
- keep your phone face down when you’re chatting so you are not distracted by the alerts
- lead by example – the whole family docks their phones at night-time downstairs away from bedrooms
- the same rules apply for everyone
- after 8pm – no social media
- no ipads in the week (if you can!)
- keep talking to your children – keep the communication lines open
- use a device to manage family usage – Circle with Disney – described as the smart way for families to manage content and time online, on any device
- monitor social media usage via the app on your phone – you may be quite shocked by the stats!
- visit Net Aware for the latest information so you can stay up to date and keep your child safe in today’s digital world
It’s not all bad news though. Some important benefits were also touched on. The fact that these devices have given us back some time and allowed us to be more flexible. Technology has allowed some dads to work from their phones/from home more so that they can be more present at school events.
If you’re worried about social media usage or cyber bullying then head over to some useful websites with more information and parental guidance:
Childline
Kidscape
Bullying UK
NSPCC
