Recent Research Finds Internet Rules Work— Until They Don’t
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Reactance (psychology)
1 min read
The article directly references 'psychological reactance theory' to explain why stricter rules backfire with older teens. This Wikipedia article would give readers deep insight into the psychological mechanism driving adolescent rebellion against parental restrictions.
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Problematic social media use
12 min read
The entire article centers on preventing 'problematic social media use' in children. This Wikipedia article provides clinical definitions, diagnostic criteria, and research on social media addiction that would help parents understand what exactly they're trying to prevent.
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Parenting styles
19 min read
The article discusses the balance between controlling and permissive approaches to rule-setting. The Wikipedia article on parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, uninvolved) provides the foundational research framework that informs why collaborative rule-making works better than strict control.
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Many parents feel lost when it comes to setting rules and limits around internet use, and this shouldn’t be surprising. Those of us who are currently raising children are the very first generation of parents to be raising children in a fully digital age and the faced with the very daunting task of setting limits on the endless amounts of information available at our children’s fingertips in an instant. Your own parents probably had very few, if any, rules around internet use since it was not nearly as accessible as it is today and they may have been unaware of all of the potential danger. Without this model from our own childhood, most of us parents are going in blind and simply using trial-and-error to determine what might work or not work for our children. It’s no wonder that it feels so overwhelming.
Of course, nearly all parents would agree that some rules are essential— it is a terrifying thought to think of what our kids might do when left entirely to their own devices… with their devices. However, we also might worry that too many rules might result in kids not learning how to moderate their own behavior and pushing back against those rules. Think about the kids you knew who weren’t allowed to eat junk food in high school and then got to college and couldn’t control themselves around Oreos. Research backs this up, finding that overly controlling rules are linked to more rebellion in kids. So how exactly do you set rules around internet use that keep children from becoming screen-obsessed zombies
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