My 13yo is absolutely glued to her phone. I set screen time limits but she just has a meltdown. Her friends are all on TikTok and she says she's missing out on inside jokes at school. I dont want to be the bad guy but also I'm not trying to raise a kid who can't look away from her phone. What are other parents doing? Is this just the new normal or am I being too strict?
TikTok is the thing right now but honestly her friends will still be her friends even if she's not on it constantly. The FOMO is real at that age though. Maybe compromise on specific times she can use it so there's something to look forward to?
Man I feel this one. My daughter does the same thing with screen time limits. The meltdown thing is rough but you gotta stick to it or they'll keep pushing back. Sometimes I try to redirect her to something she can do with me instead.
My 11 and 14 year old are the same way. We started doing tech-free family dinners and honestly it's helped. They fight it constantly but I think they secretly like having an excuse to not be on TikTok for an hour.
Don't compete with it, redirect it. Have you tried showing interest in what she's watching? Our daughter got way more willing to put the phone down when I stopped treating it like the enemy.
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The meltdowns are the worst part right? We tried everything with our oldest and honestly the limits helped more than we thought once we got past the initial tantrum phase. Maybe frame it as you're protecting her attention span or something?
The meltdowns will pass I promise. Stick with the limits even though it sucks in the moment.