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Teens

Dad working from home with toddler
I’m parenting 4 kids of different ages during the pandemic. How do I help my family balance media-use healthfully in lockdown?
 I’m parenting 4 kids of different ages during the pandemic. How do I help my family balance media-use healthfully in lockdown? 1024 462 Mediatrics

Q: My partner and I are parenting three children (ages 3.5, 6 and 10) while staying with my sister and her family, which includes a 19-year-old college student. We’re all in lockdown as my sister is high-risk for coronavirus. The adults are working from home, and some of the kids are remote learning. There are…

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13 Reasons Why Season 2
Is it ok to let my child watch the second season of 13 Reasons Why?
 Is it ok to let my child watch the second season of 13 Reasons Why? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: My fourteen-year-old wants to watch the new season of 13 Reasons Why. Although she read the book, I didn’t allow her to watch the first season, given the controversy surrounding its depiction of suicide. I’m thinking that it might be ok for her to watch now that she is in high school and because…

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Teenage boy using his cell phone while his mother looks at him with a worried expression
How can I help my teen focus and stop procrastinating with media?
 How can I help my teen focus and stop procrastinating with media? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: My 17 year-old son spends 4-5 hours at a time on YouTube, clicking endlessly from one sports comedy show to another. He is doing okay in high school, but will binge-watch or follow links from site to site until the wee hours. I can’t get him to put the phone or laptop down. I…

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Fake Instagram
Should I be concerned about my teen’s Finstagram (fake Instagram) account?
 Should I be concerned about my teen’s Finstagram (fake Instagram) account? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: My 16 year old daughter is obsessed with Instagram and constantly taking pictures to share on the app. I recently discovered that she has two accounts…one of which she calls her “Finstagram” and says she only allows her closest friends to follow her (I follow her on her more “popular” account). While I understand it’s…

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Woman texting over coffee
Can my teen be charged for a crime based on what she texts to her friends?
 Can my teen be charged for a crime based on what she texts to her friends? 750 315 Mediatrics

Es En Espanol Q: I recently read that a young woman was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for texting a friend to kill himself.  I find this case incredibly concerning because the girl who was convicted was only 17 at the time and my own teens text each other in ways that could be easily misinterpreted. For example,…

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Earworm music
How can I get my 14-year-old to stop singing the same pop song over and over again?
 How can I get my 14-year-old to stop singing the same pop song over and over again? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: My 14 year old son keeps singing Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You, around the house, in the car, at the dinner table, etc. He loves to sing and was just accepted into his new high school’s elite chorale group for next year. While I want to support his creative endeavors, I also recognize that singing Shape…

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Two women on phones over breakfast
Can media use cause teens to be unhappy with their bodies and contribute to eating disorders?
 Can media use cause teens to be unhappy with their bodies and contribute to eating disorders? 750 315 Mediatrics

Es En Espanol Q: You have mentioned research showing that using certain media can make teens sad and/or anxious and that there are also studies linking negative feelings to unhealthy eating habits. Therefore, do you think that negative feelings resulting from teens’ media use, as opposed to real-life events, can lead to unhealthy eating behaviors? ~  Starving for…

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Thirteen Reasons Why Netflix
Should I let my child watch the Netflix show, 13 Reasons Why?
 Should I let my child watch the Netflix show, 13 Reasons Why? 750 300 Mediatrics

Es En Espanol Q: My daughter is 13 and an eighth grader in middle school. Her friends have recently become obsessed with the Netflix show, 13 Reasons Why. I haven’t read the book or watched the show, but have been seeing a few news articles that worry that the show may be dangerous for kids to watch…

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Woman with child at laptop
How can I best use media with children on the autism spectrum?
 How can I best use media with children on the autism spectrum? 750 315 Mediatrics

Es En Espanol Q: I’m a Social Worker who works with children ages 7-18 on the autism spectrum. Many of the kids that I work with interpret what they see in TV and movies as representative of real life situations and how people behave – unfortunately, this kind of rigid, literal thinking often leads to problems…

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Masturbation webcam ATM
I’m 14 and masturbate on webcam for strangers, how can I stop?
 I’m 14 and masturbate on webcam for strangers, how can I stop? 750 315 Mediatrics

Q: I’m 14 and have had this bad habit for a while now, almost a year; I masturbate on webcam for total strangers. My mom’s caught me before, but that didn’t stop me. But now it’s taken control of my life. Like last week, on the last day of school, I masturbated in the boys’…

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