We’re back! July was jam-packed with travel for Those Media Moms. We both love taking the opportunity to spend quality time traveling in the summer months—especially traveling to the beach! We had a great time traveling to California (Roxy) and New Jersey (Liz) to soak up some sun while visiting with friends and family. Amidst our busy July travels, we also got to spend an unexpected week together working on something INCREDIBLY exciting! It’s a dream come true, and we can’t wait to make the BIG announcement next week! Make sure to subscribe to our email list to be one of the first to know.

Not only did we take time to connect with family and friends, and work on some big projects, but we also took intentional breaks from our phones and social media. There are so many benefits to taking screen breaks for both parents and kiddos. While the digital world has many positive aspects, it is also necessary to regularly step away and reset our goals, values, and intentions with media. 

The end of summer can be a great time to check in with your family’s media habits. Are you feeling digital fatigue or disconnection? Do you find yourself mindlessly scrolling, or letting your child watch episode after episode without purpose? Are you wanting a change? 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, here are our top 3 tips to help both you recharge and reconnect before the new school year begins. 

1. Turn off notifications. Limit the urge to check your phone by turning off non-essential notifications. Many people have social media notifications turned on, but this can lead to a greater urge to constantly check your phone. Notifications can create dopamine in your brain, but not in a healthy way. Repeated exposures to notifications can actually re-wire the prefrontal cortex of your brain (research reviews like Gupta, 2023 explain this phenomenon in more depth). By turning off non-essential notifications, you can regain control over when and how you engage with your phone. It’s important to note that simply silencing notifications is not enough. In fact, people who silence notifications may actually check their phone more often for fear of missing something (Liao & Sundar, 2022). In order to benefit, you may have to completely turn off notifications for certain apps. By reducing your overall notifications, rather than simply silencing notifications, you can work toward checking your phone less frequently. 
2. Set screen time limits. Research tells us that people use screens way more than they think (Ohme, Araujo, de Vreese, & Piotrowski, 2021) . Set some realistic and achievable screen time limits for yourself. You can use your smartphone’s built-in screen time tracking features to monitor and control your daily usage. Setting a clear boundary for yourself can encourage you to be more mindful of how and when you use your phone. Similarly, set expectations with your child about how much media time they will have access to each day. Whether this be in the form of a set amount of time on a app, a certain number of show episodes, or however you shape the media experience, having firm and clear boundaries are beneficial for your child. 
3. Create tech-free zones. Designate areas of your home or workplace as tech-free zones. We recommend areas like the kitchen and bedrooms so that technology is not interrupting meal times, bedtime routines, or sleep. Research shows that even though using your phone may feel like down time, reaching for your phone does not allow your brain to recharge effectively (Kang & Kurtzburg, 2019). 

It’s our goal to help you make screens work for your family. Media is here to stay, which makes it essential to check in regularly with ourselves to create a balance between on and off-screen experiences. Stay tuned for future resources on striking this balance with the whole family!