Technology is amazing and can be necessary, but what do you do when too much technology is harming your marriage and family relationships? In this video, Dr. A. Lynn Scoresby, Child and Family Psychology, explains 6 things parents can do to solve common problems when children and teens over use technology. It is important to note, if you feel your teen's use of technology has lead, or is leading to addiction, you may want to consider some of kind of teen online counseling, especially if you don't live near convenient access to addiction experts. The sooner you get answers from experts and begin therapy, if necessary, the easier it is to recover.

The most effective place where children learn, or should learn, those qualities that help prepare them for success in life is the home, with family. If your family seems to spend more time with a screen than with each other, you run the risk of your children missing out on the development of skills they will need to be good, hardworking, intelligent people who can face challenges and overcome difficulties.

Consider these three areas for being a successful person:

1. CHARACTER–positive life characteristics: integrity, knowing right from wrong, kindness, self control, etc.
2. ACHIEVEMENT–learning 
3. MOTIVATION–the drive to accomplish–self motivation
   
   

5 Secrets for
Successful Children

Think about if just one of the three is missing, or less developed. A simple way to imagine this concept is to think of a criminal mastermind. They are clearly intelligent (achievement), and they are very driven (motivated), but what is their mission–destruction, power, or wealth with a complete disregard for anyone else but themselves (no character)? Think for a moment about your children. Do they possess qualities, or enough qualities, in all three of these areas? Where might they improve? Maybe they do well in school, but they are overly shy–causing them to miss out on great opportunities. Perhaps they are popular and do well in school, but they make poor decisions, disrespect you, or ignore your rules, or they may even be unkind to others. Or maybe they are one of the kindest, most helpful kids who is very intelligent, but they do not perform well in school because they lack motivation. 

Consider what you can do in your family to take better advantage of the opportunity you have to grow together and teach your children the qualities you want them to possess. Think about how much time is spent on technology–parents included–compared to how much time is spent together as a family having fun, learning, and yes, teaching values. Now, maybe you are a family who loves their technology and you don't have any visible serious issues you are dealing with. No big deal, right? Perhaps. Or maybe you've overlooked the fact that your kids will be entering a world with many different types of people and personalities. What then? How are they going to get along with a difficult coworker or boss? How are they going to handle difficulties and challenges in life and in their relationships? What you do now matters a great deal. 

So watch this video to learn more about the six things you can do to counter negative effects of technology.

1. Teach positive use of technology
2. Never leave technology use unsupervised
3. Reorganize family time together
4. SHUT IT OFF!
5. Actively teach values
6. Kids benefit from both parents.

What have you done in your family to overcome the negative effects of technology in your family? What positives have you seen when family time together was emphasized? Please share.