How to Stop Your Teen’s Doom Scrolling

Life is short (and busy!). Buy the comfy matching set…or 7. And sign our petition to make this an acceptable mom uniform for all occasions! 

How to Spot (And Stop) Your Teen’s Doom Scrolling

If doom scrolling was an Olympic sport, our teens would be gold medalists. To be fair…we’d probably be silver 😬. But as always, our kids come first! And it’s on us to make sure they’re not overwhelming themselves with the horrors of the world. First, it’s important to know how to spot the difference between casually perusing social media and doom scrolling. If their FYP seems to skew negative, encourage them to mute or unfollow any accounts that cause them stress or anxiety. Depending on their age, it might help to sit down with them and sort through their social media to help curate their feed. Life is hard enough, there’s no need for our kids to be inundated with negativity.

It’s also important to teach our teens how to spot clickbait–articles and videos that are meant solely to make people angry or scared. More often than not, content like this includes misinformation. Determining fact from fiction on social media is something we’re still learning in our adult lives so we need to show our kids some patience and grace in this department. It’s not about scolding our kids for not knowing better, it’s more about framing this as an emotional health issue. Lastly—practice what you preach! Make sure you don’t get sucked into the doom scrolling vortex! 

Our Mental Health and How It Impacts Our Kids 

Everything we do impacts our children. A recent study shows that children whose parents had poor mental health were four times more likely to develop severe ADHD. While that seems a little scary, it also makes sense. Of course a kid will be anxious and have a hard time focusing if they are living in an unstable environment or if their caregiver doesn’t have a good handle on their mental health. 

Kids not only mirror what they see but they absorb our emotions–the good ones and the bad. This isn’t meant to scare parents (though it can feel daunting) but we can use it as a reminder that taking care of ourselves isn’t selfish–it’s also a way of taking care of our kids. 

Spotting Red Flags in Your Teen’s Texting Habits

This isn’t as straightforward as you’d think. But we’ve got you covered. Some big things to watch out for:

• Deleting or hiding messages

• Messaging unknown numbers

• Feeling pressure to share photos or personal info on the internet

• Sudden stress or withdrawal after texting

• Using unfamiliar or suspicious abbreviations

Check out The Common Parent for more helpful info and resources! 

Need some time away from screens? Here’s a novel idea…reading (see what we did there 🙂?)! Here are some books we’ve loved recently:

• Long Island Compromise - When American-dream poster child Carl Fletcher is violently kidnapped and held hostage for six days in 1980, his family is forever changed. Long Island Compromise is a thrilling saga spanning decades about wealth, greed, the ego of legacy and the comedic dread that comes with being part of a dysfunctional family.

• Good Material - Andy, a not quite up-and-coming stand-up comedian, is blindsided when Jen, the love of his life, ends their relationship. A clever, painfully relatable story about the very different sides of a break up and the hilariously unhinged things we do to mend our broken hearts.

• Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Mystery fans, this one's for you! Benjamin Stevenson’s uncanny ability to blend tragedy and comedy is on display in EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE—a funny, captivating and self-aware murder mystery that simultaneously calls out and celebrates the tropes of the genre.