Digital habits may make back-to-school schedule difficult, Lufkin pediatrician says

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - As the summer comes to a close parents may want to start closely watching the amount of time their child spends on digital devices.

Children’s Clinic of Lufkin Pediatrician Dr. Amol Deshpande says too much screen time could be keeping them up at night.

“Kids have been glued to the cell phone, video games, spending easily seven to eight hours a day on screen time,” said Deshpande.

The time spent using social media among 8- to 12-year-olds is up eight minutes a day from 2019, the top five sites grabbing their attention are Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Discord, and Pinterest.

“The cell phone at night emits white colored light, which can trick your brain to think it’s the daytime, so a lot of teenagers complain of they have a hard time falling asleep” says Deshpande. The solution is simple.

“I would recommend all the parents to slowly start trying to go to bed earlier, an hour in few days, that way closer to the day starts at school they are getting enough sleep,” said Deshpande.

Something parent Rebecca Grove says she is already doing.

“Usually, a week before the school starts then yes, we start implementing that so that way they understand that okay, school’s getting ready to start it’s time for me to go back to the old routine.”

A routine that Grove says helps in the long run.

“School work, there’s that less distraction of ‘oh well, who’s texting me, who’s doing this, who’s doing that,’ it doesn’t matter because it’s not time for you to be looking at all of that.”

Discussing screen time expectations before the school year starts is another way that parents can make sure their kids are practicing healthy digital habits.

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