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How to Support Your Child’s Digital Wellbeing  

You’ve probably asked it. “How much screen time is too much?” But here’s the better question: “What’s happening to my child on those screens - and how is it affecting their emotional, social, and physical health?”  

Digital wellbeing isn’t about counting minutes. It’s about noticing meaning. And in a world where learning, social life, entertainment, and identity are all mediated by screens, it’s time to go deeper.  

What Is Digital Wellbeing?  

Digital wellbeing is not about removing devices. It’s about helping your child have a healthy, self-aware relationship with them.  

That includes:  

• Emotional wellbeing: How digital content affects mood, self-worth, and anxiety.  
• Social wellbeing: Whether online interaction builds or erodes real connection.  
• Physical wellbeing: The impact of tech use on sleep, eyesight, posture, and movement.  

In short: Is tech helping your child grow - or hollowing them out?  

What to Watch for - Beyond “Addiction”  

Forget the outdated panic about tech “addiction.” The more important signals are subtler: 

• Does your child withdraw from face-to-face interactions? Do they seem exhausted, irritable, or anxious after time online?  
• Have you noticed a loss of joy in offline activities they once loved? Are they staying up late with devices, but hiding it?  

These aren’t failures of discipline. They’re red flags of digital distress. And they can be addressed - not with punishment, but with presence. 

What Digital Wellbeing Looks Like at Home  

You don’t need to overhaul your life. Start small: 

• Daily check-ins: Ask, “What’s one thing online that made you feel good today? What’s one thing that didn’t?”  
• Tech transparency: Make space for open conversations about what they’re watching, following, or worrying about online. 
• Offline joy: Help your child reconnect with non-digital pleasure - creativity, movement, play, time in nature. 
•  Co-created boundaries: Instead of rules imposed from above, build shared agreements. “Let’s make a plan for how we wind down before sleep - without screens. ” The goal isn’t restriction. It’s rhythm. What to  

This Is Not About Tech Fear. It’s About Tech Fluency.  

Technology isn’t going anywhere. But how we shape our children’s relationship with it is still in our control. 

Digital wellbeing means your child knows:  

• How to recognise when the scroll is making them anxious. How to take a break without fear of missing out.  
• How to use tech for connection - not comparison.  
• How to set boundaries with confidence, not guilt.  

That starts with you modelling the same.  

Because the strongest digital filter is not the app. It’s the self.