How to raise low-tech teens

"You're in charge, Jean Twenge tells parents in 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World. The San Diego State psychologist, the mother of teenagers herself, thinks limiting adolescents' use of digital technology will improve their health and (ultimately) happiness.

The in-charge parent should ban devices in the bedroom overnight and social media before age 16 or later, Twenge writes.

The first phone should be very basic with no access to social media. The first smartphone should come with the driver's license. (Twenge blames phones for teens delaying milestones, such as getting a driver's license.)

Parents should use parental controls on devices, create no-phone zones and be cautious about laptops, gaming consoles and tablets, she writes.

Rule 8 is "give your kids real-world freedom."

"We really have overprotected kids in the real world and vastly underprotected them online, and we need to bring things back into balance," she tells Scott Tong and Julia Corcoran in a WBUR interview. Children should be able to "get on their bike and go to a friend's house instead of having a feeling like it has to be social media or texting as the only way they can communicate.”

The psychologist also tells parents to advocate for phone-free schools.

Low-tech parenting is one the rise, writes Kara Kennedy, mother of an almost one-year-old, in The Free Press. The trend in children’s toys is "simpler, slower, nostalgic — analog."

The Yoto Player "offers screen-free audio stories, music, and radio, operated by inserting physical cards," while Camp Snap is "a throwback digital camera designed to work like a disposable, with no screen and no instant gratification," she writes.

Parents "can save your kid from dopamine slot machine smartphones by giving them a minimalist alternative like the Brick — a device that temporarily removes apps and notifications from your phone, leaving you with something that calls, texts, and not much else," Kennedy writes. "Tin Can makes a retro-inspired, screen-free landline phone for kids." It's "connected to a private network designed for children, with no social media, no YouTube, just good old-fashioned human contact."