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Mobile Media

toddler smartphone
Is it wrong for me to give my three-year-old my tablet or smartphone to use unsupervised?
 Is it wrong for me to give my three-year-old my tablet or smartphone to use unsupervised? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: I recently read the New York Times article discussing young children using high tech devices unsupervised before they turn 4. Admittedly, I give my three year old daughter my iPad to play with on long car trips and I’ll occasionally hand her my smartphone while in line at the grocery store (she usually melts…

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Kids Tablet school
My 10-year-old is using a school tablet to access inappropriate content. What should I do?
 My 10-year-old is using a school tablet to access inappropriate content. What should I do? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: My ten-year-old daughter’s school has a new program where each student is paired with another to share a tablet. They switch off bringing the tablet home, but work on assignments in school together. I’m concerned that my daughter or her partner are using the tablet to search inappropriate topics online and even download (and…

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Summer Camp ATM
Is resetting house media rules after my kids return from summer camp a good idea?
 Is resetting house media rules after my kids return from summer camp a good idea? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: What advice do you have for when kids (ages 10, 13 and 13) return home from sleepaway camp where they’ve had no devices for weeks (or months)? This seems like a great opportunity to reset the house rules for media use, as I cringe at the idea of falling back into old habits of…

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Social Media Addiction ATM
My 14-year-old daughter is addicted to social media, what should I do?
 My 14-year-old daughter is addicted to social media, what should I do? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: My 14-year-old daughter is seemingly addicted to her smartphone, particularly social media (Instagram and Snap Chat) and texting with her friends. I’ve never seen it this bad before. During the school year, she had no problem leaving her phone in her backpack while at home, and she’s always been a good student, with plenty…

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Dating App
Are my chances of getting an STD higher if I meet someone through a dating app like Tinder?
 Are my chances of getting an STD higher if I meet someone through a dating app like Tinder? 1 1 Mediatrics

Q: I’m 19 and going off to college in the Fall. A bunch of my friends are on Tinder, and I am too, but have only really been looking…I’m concerned that my risk of contracting an STD will be higher if I use the app, rather than meet someone in person…is that true? ~ Sketched…

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Mexico Friends ATM
Since moving, my teen son spends a lot of time connecting with his old friends through media instead of making new friends – what should I do?
 Since moving, my teen son spends a lot of time connecting with his old friends through media instead of making new friends – what should I do? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: Our family moved recently from the U.S. to Mexico for my husband’s job, and while most things have been transitioning smoothly, I am concerned that my 14-year-old son is spending too much time with screens and not enough time making friends. Since moving, he spends a lot of time Skyping or playing video games…

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Tween bedroom technology devices
How do we get the laptops, smartphones and tablets out of our kids’ bedrooms?
 How do we get the laptops, smartphones and tablets out of our kids’ bedrooms? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: We would like to get devices (smartphones, laptops, kindles, tablets) out of our kids’ bedrooms, but we don’t know how to do this. They use their laptops for homework and smartphones for music and as alarm clocks. Do you have any good suggestions on how to implement this change? Our oldest is now 18 and…

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preschooler dad tablet
What is the best way to introduce screen media to our three-and-a-half-year-old?
 What is the best way to introduce screen media to our three-and-a-half-year-old? 750 250 Mediatrics

Q: What is the appropriate way to introduce screen media to our three-and-a-half-year-old son? We don’t own a TV, and our son’s exposure to screens has been limited to occasionally taking photos and video and watching Curious George on our smartphones once or twice a week, as a reward, for 10-30 minutes. He’s a very happy…

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hands texting
Should I worry about my teens texting, or is it similar to the time I spent talking to my friends on the phone when I was their age?
 Should I worry about my teens texting, or is it similar to the time I spent talking to my friends on the phone when I was their age? 750 250 Mediatrics

Q: I’ve noticed that many parents worry a lot about their children texting. But when we were kids, we would spend hours on the phone, sometimes not even talking much. When my teens are texting with friends at home, I liken it to those phone calls of yesteryear. I don’t allow texting during family meals…

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Kids school laptops
My 8 year old is being given a laptop for school – what should I do?
 My 8 year old is being given a laptop for school – what should I do? 750 250 Mediatrics

Q: My 8 year old is being given a laptop by her public school. While I do understand the benefits, I have serious concerns about such a young child having minimally supervised online access at school and at after-school care. The school laptops do not even come with any tracking software or restrictions. At home,…

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