Friday, February 26, 2016

What do you need to deal with a Tech-Savvy teen?


Teens today are tech savvy and they love the idea of being active digitally. Be it their social media feed, response to a chat message or the reception of an online invitation; teens try to stay updated with everything happening in their digital sphere and for that, they stay glued to their digital devices so they don’t miss on anything. They check their devices every now and then which usually results in the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in them.

It is deeply worrying that more and more teens are given psychiatric diagnoses and that the number of young people receiving treatment for OCD is large and still growing. Teens are increasingly 'on' in their lives, especially in the social media. They must live up to the expectation of being successful and special. But it does mean that more and more young people succumb to the pressure and the number of losers is multiplied. So now, to deal with the situation, here are the three things that you require:

1. Patience


The first thing that you would need to deal with your tech-savvy teen is a bit of silence and patience. You are not a teenager hence you shouldn’t behave like one. Have some patience if you see your teen glued to their digital devices. Observe them closely and if you find them checking their devices again and again, keep calm and plan a counseling session with them.

2. The art of Negotiation


Negotiation is about listening and communication both. So in your negotiation, be quick to listen and slow to speak. Talk to your teens about their changing habits and your rising concerns. Ask them about their preferences and make them realize what is right. Once you know their perspective, you can plan appropriate responses to help them in a better way.

3. Digital Solution


Last but not the least, you have to be tech-savvy yourself so you can take help from digital solutions to deal with your teens. Install any good parental app on your phone and monitor what makes your teens check their phones again and again. Once identified, you can control their obsession and compulsion digitally with the same app as the advanced parental apps such as FamilyTime offers a range of features to help you control your teens’ use of cell phone. Using the app you can either blacklist their most favored apps, remotely lock the phone or nonetheless schedule an automatic lock during the sleep hours and other time intervals during the day.

Get hold of these three requisites of parenting and deal with your tech-savvy teen smartly!