The Most Effective Way to Stop Your Teens' Social Media Addiction

Today, an individual is likely to be a member of at least three to four social media apps. It may have made entertainment more accessible and academics easier but it is not a surprise that social media can be highly addictive, not just for the teens but for the adults as well.

While adults may be able to deal with their internet addiction themselves, teens may need some help from the parents to stay off social media when it is not necessary.

If you have kids who are addicted to social media apps, this article is for you. We will guide you how to stop social media addiction for your kids.

8 Signs Your Child is Addicted to Social Media Apps

So what is social media addiction? The obsessive need of an individual, especially teenagers, for checking social media apps and trying to constantly stay in the loop so they don't miss anything indicates an addiction to social media. There are some behavioral changes in addicted kids observed through extensive research that can help us find the common signs of social media addiction. If your kids show the following signs, chances are, they are addicted to social media apps.

Checking social media apps is the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night: If you find your kids looking for their phone so they can scroll through their social media and respond to their notifications the first thing in the morning and right before going to bed, they may be developing social media addiction.

Sharing everything on social media apps: Social media is about sharing your life in the form of pictures, stories, tweets, etc. If your kids feel the excessive need to share their life on social media and keep updating these apps constantly, they could be addicted to social media.

Stressing out when there are no likes or comments: Not getting enough likes or comments with minimal interaction can really bother social media addicts. They find ways to interact more and more otherwise stress takes over and they find it hard to concentrate on other life activities.

Checking the phone immediately when they hear a notification sound: This is one of the most common signs of addiction to social media. When your child immediately looks at his/her phone when it pings to see who the notification is from, you may have a problem.

Spending hours on social media apps every day: When teenagers spend hours every day using their phones and staying online, it may cause addiction. You can check their weekly screen time to find out how much time they spend on their phone on average, every day.

Having poor real-life communication skills: Being on the phone, tweeting, and texting all day can really mess up a teenager's real-life communication skills. Teenagers who are social media addicts may not prefer being in a real-life conversation with someone, they would rather use their phone.

Losing interest in education and extracurricular activities: Teenagers who are addicted to social media apps find it hard to concentrate on academics and don't even enjoy other exciting activities. They try their best to free themselves from these obligations as soon as possible so they can get back to scrolling on their favorite social media apps.

Irritability and tiredness: Addiction to social media can affect a child's mental as well as physical health. They may always feel tired and be less active physically. The mental effects of social media addiction lead to the kid's feeling irritated and unfulfilled most of the time.

Most Effective way to Stop Your Teens' Social Media Addiction

Setting time limits on kid's phone is a foolproof way to keep your kid off social media and help them with their social media addiction. Limiting their time on their phone will compel the kids to engage in other activities to pass their time.

You must be wondering how you can limit your child's time on the phone. We recommend trying a remarkable app – FamiGuard. With the help of this app, you can lock your child's phone for a limited set time period. This app will not allow access to the phone during that time period.

What can FamiGuard do if your kid has social media addiction?

Here are some of the amazing features the app FamiGuard offers that can help you deal with your child's social media addiction and help them get rid of social media addiction. This app can effectively reduce or even stop their addiction and force them to divert their attention to progressive and healthy habits and activities for a better present and future.

Set Time Limits for Certain Social Media Apps (Additional):

FamiGuard has a smart feature that allows it to monitor specific apps and even block them. With the help of this app, you can set a timer for different social media apps to be accessed during that set time limit only. When the limit is reached, your child won't be allowed to access those social media apps.

Set Screen Time on Your Teens' Phone:

This app can limit screen time on your child's phone, and even lock the phone screen when it is necessary. This feature can be very helpful when you find your child using the device excessively for social media chatting. When the limit is reached, the device will be automatically locked. You can set daily fixed time limits for your children!

Pause phone usage directly:

With FamiGuard, you can now control the target device remotely and directly. This app allows you to stop the phone usage during bedtime or study time or whenever you think is necessary, from anywhere, to prevent your child from using the device and reduce the wastage of their precious time.

To make use of these features follow these simple steps;

Step 1: Register a free FamiGuard account.

Step 2: Download the FamiGuard app on your child's phone.

Step 3: Log in to your account in the app and configure your child's device.

Step 4: Now, you can start setting time limits for social media apps on your child's phone.

FamiGuard parental control app is super easy to get started. Or you can visit the Guide to check out more details of using the app.

Other Ways to Stop Your Teens' Social Media Addiction

Social media addiction can be very damaging to kids. It can affect almost every part of their lives and can become a hindrance to their growth and appropriate learning. It must stop when the signs start to show. Here are some of the effective ways on how to break social media addiction of your kids.

1. Make sure your Teens have a daily schedule as you do

Kids follow the footsteps of their elders, especially parents. Parents are children's first mentors. You need to set healthy examples for teenagers to follow. If you are online all the time or involved with other gadgets, there's no way your kids will stay away from them. Make sure you and your kids have a healthy routine daily which leaves only a small amount of time for you all to spend on the internet.

2. Get a new hobby for your Teens

If you see any of the above-mentioned signs of social media addiction in your children, it is time to make some changes. Look for a new hobby for your kids to distract them from their gadgets. It could be anything exciting that they can do on their own or you all could enjoy as a family.

3. Disable notifications on Teens' phone

Disabling the notifications on your child's phone can help reduce the notification anxiety that makes them check who texted or liked a photo as soon as they hear the phone ping. No notifications will help your kids continue paying attention to other real-life activities.

4. Delete social media apps

Having the addictive social media apps available just one touch away will make your kids run back to them and scroll mindlessly. Deleting some of these apps may act as a barrier and help your kids stay off them for a longer time. 

Conclusion

This is no surprise that social media addiction can be very damaging not just for children but for grownups too. While adults can have a sense of responsibility, children cannot do that and they need the help of their elders. Here, we discussed some of the most effective ways to kick social media addiction of your kids. Using FamiGuard can help you monitor your child's phone usage so you can relax knowing that your child is using social media apps responsibly.