As an educator and mom, I’m urging parents to reduce, not remove, screen time. Children and teenagers, even adults nowadays spend countless hours at home and during their free time staring at a screen. It has turned into an addiction and you know it! Addictions such as engaging in violent/aggressive play station games through teaching generations how to use foul language and kill, Netflix catastrophic movies, the constant need for social media acceptance, social media platforms such as Tick Tock, and the list can go on and on. Each one promotes and is the result of catastrophic, yes catastrophic, negative/damaging outcomes on children and teenagers. One of the negative outcomes is that nowadays you are accepted in society based on the number of likes or friend requests you receive! A teenager needs to feel accepted and popular in a non-real world. In 1980 when I was a child, I was liked or unliked based on my relationship with my real friends in the real world. NOW one’s popularity is based on virtual alienated friends who by the way no one really knows who they are and what do they really look like due to the crazy amount of filters in the new, virtual, and non-real world. I’m not saying remove screen time completely because even if you want to you can’t. I’m saying reduce it. Is it an addiction? Yes, it is and a very harmful one. So before you start screaming at your child or teenager for not focusing, not listening, constantly forgetting, being anti-social, constantly bored, demotivated, angry, behaving aggressively, hitting, and using foul language check the amount of screen time and check what are they spending all this time on. Hate to break it to you but these unwanted actions are just the beginning of an end you do not want. An end you don’t want to be the result of or product of. Step one is to reduce screen time while you still have the chance to do so