In the feature below, JoAnn Schauf, founder of Your Tween and You, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, Loving the Alien: How to Parent Your Tween, offers insight on the positive impact of smartphones on tweens.
Contrary to the common focus on digital addiction and online dangers, Schauf highlights how smartphones can enhance privacy, critical thinking, communication, emotional support, and responsibility when used responsibly with parental guidance.
Drawing from her extensive background in counseling and her experience as a mother, Schauf offers a balanced perspective that encourages constructive smartphone use for adolescent development.
In recent years, smartphones have emerged as one of the most transformative technologies, profoundly altering the daily lives of people across the globe. While the media often highlights the negative aspects of technology, especially for adolescents—such as bullying, access to harmful sites, and digital addiction—it’s essential to recognize the positive roles that smartphones can play in the lives of tweens. By promoting maturity and common sense, these devices offer several significant benefits when used responsibly with parental guidance.
Enhanced Privacy and Autonomy
Tweens’ rooms are their sanctuaries, and their cell phones offer an additional layer of privacy. As they seek independence from their parents, having a smartphone provides a customizable space that reflects their preferences and personalities. Personalizing wallpapers, setting ringtones, and managing passwords allow tweens to express their uniqueness. This sense of autonomy is crucial for their development, as it helps them relish their growing independence.
Cognitive Development and Critical Thinking
Smartphones can serve as catalysts for cognitive development and critical thinking skills. The prefrontal cortex of adolescents won’t mature until after their 21st birthday, so they need practice exercising their executive functions. By making decisions about which apps to use, evaluating the reliability of information, and determining how to respond to messages, tweens enhance their intellectual processing skills. This self-directed learning experience boosts their confidence in their judgment and helps them develop objectivity.
Improved Communication and Connection
Smartphones facilitate essential communication between tweens and their peers, parents, and even themselves. Taking photos, shooting videos, and using art apps allow tweens to be creative and store their memories. Watching funny videos with friends or family, using messaging apps, and texting game scores build connections and create a sense of belonging. Knowing that someone cares and responds makes tweens feel secure and loved.
Emotional Support and Stress Relief
Having a cell phone can provide significant emotional benefits for tweens. Access to their parents and resources like meditation apps or calming music playlists can help them manage stress and regulate their emotions effectively. The immediacy of support can be particularly comforting during difficult times, offering reassurance and psychological safety as they navigate the complexities of growing up. In addition, engaging with positive content or connecting with friends through social media can offer a much-needed distraction from daily stresses.
Responsibility and Self-Regulation
Phone ownership teaches tweens that it is a privilege rather than an entitlement. With this privilege comes the responsibility of using the device appropriately. By involving tweens in setting guidelines and boundaries around phone use, parents promote self-regulation and accountability. This collaborative approach is especially effective, as tweens are less likely to feel bossed around and more likely to develop healthy digital habits. It also reduces power struggles with parents as they navigate the digital world.
Smartphones have become an integral part of tweens’ lives, offering opportunities for growth, connection, and learning enrichment. They foster autonomy, enhance decision-making skills, and provide emotional support. With ongoing parental support, tweens can develop a healthy and successful relationship with their phones, leveraging these devices as tools for their development and well-being. Embracing the positive aspects of technology can empower tweens to thrive in an increasingly digital world, preparing them for the future while ensuring their safety and emotional health.
About
JoAnn Schauf is the founder of Your Tween and You, an author, and a seasoned speaker who specializes in parenting and adolescent coaching. She authors the blog The Tween Times and actively engages with parents through workshops and conferences. Holding a Master of Science in Counseling, JoAnn’s early career included roles as a therapist in a psychiatric hospital and a counselor in various educational settings, from secondary schools to colleges.
Her best-selling book, Loving the Alien: How to Parent Your Tween, was inspired by her interactions with bewildered parents navigating their children’s early adolescence and the pervasive influence of technology—a journey she’s familiar with as a mother of four. Residing in Austin, Texas, JoAnn dedicates her free time to volunteer work and enjoys relaxing on California beaches.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
