Teen texting: Enable your teen prevent the pitfalls

Concerned about teen texting? Comprehend how to chat to your teen about the hazards of sexting and texting while driving.

By Mayo Clinic Employees

For quite a few teens, texting is an crucial way to communicate. But a absence of maturity can get your teen into trouble when texting. Enable your teen understand — and prevent — the pitfalls linked with texting.

You should not make it possible for texting while driving

Distracted driving can be fatal, in particular for teens. In accordance to the Countrywide Highway Targeted traffic Security Administration, teens were the largest age group reported as distracted at the time of fatal crashes in 2016. One resource of distraction while driving for teens is texting.

Make positive your teen understands the pitfalls of texting while driving. Convey to your teen that texting while driving just isn’t allowed underneath any conditions and established an case in point by keeping away from the actions. Develop an settlement with your teen that commits you both of those to distraction-no cost driving.

End texting from keeping your teen up

Texting can interfere with teens’ sleep, which they will need for their progress, progress and perfectly-being.

A 2018 research suggests that texting at evening is linked with teens likely to bed afterwards, paying a lot less time in bed, experience exhausted at university and obtaining irregular sleep practices. Analysis also has proven that university-aged children and adolescents who sleep with cellular equipment in their rooms are at better chance of sleep disturbances.

Operate with your teen to set up fair hrs for texting — this sort of as no texting just after a sure hour on university nights. Keep your teen’s cellphone out of his or her place at evening.

Be honest about sexting

Sexting is the sending or obtaining of nude or seminude images or sexually specific textual content messages. Sexting can take place in between individuals who are dating. At times, one particular particular person pressures yet another into sexting to establish his or her thoughts. A particular person also might send out this kind of graphic or information to yet another without asking for consent.

Sexting can induce emotional distress for all people associated. An graphic or information intended for one particular particular person can be forwarded and dispersed greatly — and when it can be in circulation, there’s no way to management it. A photograph or information could resurface several years afterwards, triggering humiliation or problems with work or university.

Communicate to your teen about sexting. Start off by asking what he or she understands and make clear the outcomes, which could involve legislation enforcement. Teach your teen to be robust and resist peer pressure to sext. Convey to your teen to prevent sending just about anything electronically that he or she wouldn’t want the complete earth to see.

Communicate about cyberbullying

Cyberbullying will involve using an digital medium, this sort of as textual content messages, to threaten or harm some others. Getting bullied as a little one has been joined to mental health problems, impaired tutorial efficiency, substance abuse and violence.

Make positive your teen understands that it just isn’t suitable to spread rumors or bully someone via texting or any other usually means. Remind your teen that any textual content information he or she sends can be saved or forwarded to anybody else, so it can be essential to use excellent judgment with each and every information.

Inspire your teen to chat to you or yet another trustworthy adult if he or she receives harassing textual content messages. Describe that you is not going to choose absent digital privileges if your teen confides in you about a trouble.

Present direction and established boundaries

Texting can be tough even for adults. Communicate to your teen about how the feelings driving a textual content can quickly be misunderstood. You might persuade your teen to actually chat to buddies, rather than normally texting.

Set anticipations for your teen’s texting actions and continue to keep an eye on how your teen is using his or her cellphone or other equipment or platforms to communicate. Sit down with your teen and glance via textual content messages occasionally — or permit your teen know that you may periodically test his or her cellphone for written content.

If your teen just isn’t subsequent your regulations or you happen to be concerned that texting is interfering with your teen’s schoolwork or other duties, choose action. You might established restrictions on your teen’s cellphone use or only choose absent the cellphone. Preventing probably really serious outcomes outweighs any anger your teen is possible to convey.