MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Of all the things that cause parents to tear their hair out, screens are high on the list, especially for parents of teens who tend to have control of their own devices. The American Psychological Association has just issued its first set of guidelines for teens and their parents on how to navigate healthy video consumption. NPR's Katia Riddle covers mental health, and she's with us now to tell us more. Good morning, Katia.
KATIA RIDDLE, HOST:
Good morning.
MARTIN: So how did they come up with these guidelines, and what are some of the key takeaways?
RIDDLE: So the APA convened leading experts on this issue to review the existing data and research. And the main thing to know from their report is that parents need to be aware of what their kids are watching. It is the wild, wild west out there. Content is very unregulated and can contain negative images of sex, violence and unrealistic body image, which is scary. But there's also some material that's healthy and even encourages pro-social behaviors and development. I talked with Mitch Prinstein. He's the chief science officer at the American Psychological Association. He had this message for parents.
MITCH PRINSTEIN: We shouldn't feel completely guilty when we hand our kids a device to watch a moderate amount of video content. But we should be not giving them completely free rein to watch anything they want because it really depends what they're watching.
MARTIN: So how do parents make the distinction between content that's healthy or not?
RIDDLE: So as just one example, the authors of this report warn about the dangers of content that encourages violence or risky behaviors. They note that when teens are exposed to this kinds of programming, they can become numb to this behavior in real life, and that can lead to reduced empathy and increased aggression. I should note that these researchers did not include recommendations around video games. This is just about passive video consumption. Researchers also call out influencers on platforms like YouTube or TikTok as being especially powerful and potentially dangerous for kids.
You know, these adolescent years are formative. It's a time when kids are hopefully learning what healthy relationships look like. And to that point, when teenagers watch people modeling healthy behavior, like characters or influencers that demonstrate kindness and generosity, that can help kids cultivate those same traits. Something like watching someone intervene around bullying behavior can be really instructive.
MARTIN: I'm just wondering how parents can have the kind of oversight that they're describing. I mean, did they have any suggestions for that?
RIDDLE: Right. So there is literally no way that you're going to be able to sit next to your teenager and watch over their shoulder every minute. Really, the goal here is teaching them to be savvy consumers of media and just talking to them about what they're seeing. Prinstein told me that he does this with his own kids. He has a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old.
PRINSTEIN: I try and ask them, what were you watching? What was the main message of what you saw? How do you feel about it now that you've watched it? And that seems to reliably bring up conversations that I want to have with my kids, where I can suggest maybe more of this, less of that or let's talk about how to handle this if you saw that in real life.
MARTIN: That is helpful, but it still sounds difficult.
RIDDLE: Yeah. You know, the guidelines do ask platforms to put some safety measures in place, like limiting the automatic playing of video one after another and reminding teens when they've been watching for a long time. But, Michel, I have a teenager at home, and I'll admit part of me was hoping for some very clear guidance - like, you know, only X hours of video content per day or only from certain platforms. Something I have to keep relearning about parenting is - that I think applies here - you know, it's messy, it's nuanced and it involves a lot of hard work.
MARTIN: That is Katia Riddle. Katia, thank you.
RIDDLE: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADON'S "QUEEN ANNE'S LACE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
