Summer break means more free time for kids. So, how can parents get teens to use that time to use their time well to put down their devices?

Insight Counseling Psychotherapist Mary Morehouse says it starts with a family conversation. Mary tells The Lift that social media is a part of teens’ lives, and that we can’t pretend that it’s not.

She explains to The Lift, “It’s designed to be addictive. So, to have some empathy, from a parent’s standpoint, about how difficult it is to manage it.”

Another piece is that kid’s brains are still developing. “They don’t have the prefrontal cortex, that decision making developed to put on the stops. They don’t really know because they can’t know.”

Studies show that teens average 3.5 hours of screen time per a day, and about half say it makes them feel worse.

Mary suggests teens take a look at how much time they’re spending online, and then check in with their feelings- do they feel better or worse?