Debate Time: Does a Teenager Waste Time on Social Media Without this Important Mindset?

Debate Time: Does a Teenager Waste Time on Social 

Media Without this Important Mindset? 

“In truth a family is what you make it. It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring, and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit.” 

Marge Kennedy...he Single Parent Family

Recently, a group of us parents had a debate:

How many hours does my teen daughter use her cell phone?

Is she wasting or spending time on social media?

One parent did not like the idea that her daughter was wasting time on the internet and preferred to call it spending time. “It’s a kinder way of putting it to avoid bad feelings,” she said.

I’ve always believed in the Big Picture scenario and divided a piece of paper into two columns for brainstorming. One heading said Wasting Time; the second heading said Spending Time. The implication with spending anything was that there was some kind of return on investment.

There was considerable debate where to put some ideas. See if you would agree.

Wasting Time

Scrolling Instagram, texting, posting Snapchat pictures, checking celebrity gossip, playing
video games, message Facebook friends, tweets, dressing up and make-up, dating sites, webcam shows, Netflix  

Spending Time

Write a story or poem, learn to dance, play an instrument, homework, help neighbors, physical sports, try a new recipe, prepare supper, have dinner with family, visit old relatives, animal rescue shelter, relax in the park, talk on the phone, knit a gift

      

The point I wanted to make is that teenagers might not feel there is a difference with how time is managed without a stronger mindset to value time itself. They may not realize that time is their most precious commodity, always moving forward, never backward and once spent it cannot be replayed.

"It's a strange paradox of time, it can only be managed in a very small time frame 

called today, and today can sometimes be sparked by a tinier matter of choice."

Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand.

In my opinion, some of the most important lessons for every teen girl should be about time management, how to make good choices and respect her one and only timeline.  

Two main reasons:

ONE: It will help parents to encourage their teen daughters to monitor their own daily and weekly time schedules with an inbuilt importance versus nagging. See blog Parents’ Solutions to Wasting Time by Teenagers on Social Media and More about Mindset

TWO: It will help teen girls on a personal, internal basis to appreciate more this amazing overture of time from overarching infinity to precise moment of making a choice.

Perhaps, it’s rather sad to say that as an elder, time can finally be appreciated after a long lifeline when remaining time is shorter and even more precious. However, from a reverse engineering viewpoint, it’s also why it is so important to make sure that teen girls don’t waste their time but learn to use it competently to actualize their abilities and interests.

Therefore, to become competent in any subject matter requires an educated mindset with a set of lessons that move from point A to point B from What I Don’t Know about Time to What I Understand More about Time.  Most importantly, this new mindset is a personal realization to start replacing the conditioned drive to stay plugged into the cellphone for hours at a time.  

This is the reason why at the end of this story, there are several lesson plans for teen girls to practice different components of time: 

Show some Love for your Brain

Real Time Connections to my True Self

My Timeline and Rites of Passage

My Calendar of Time Experience

Practice making Smart Choices  

Practice difference of Choice, Decision and Habit

Compare Screen Time vs Real Time

Design personal Time Mantra - artistic

At this point, developing a strong positive mindset may be an interesting theory but what if it works because there is no other common denominator that applies to all teenagers?

 What if, teen girls may discover that time is as valuable, if not, more valuable than social media? It would be a mind-breaking revelation and transformation.

It’s your turn to join the debate: What do you think?

Do teen girls waste time or spend time on their cellphones?  

Can a stronger mindset about value of Time help to make smarter choices?

Questions and comments are important and always appreciated.

Annemarie Berukoff
amarie10@gmail.com
833 471 4661

"In fact, let me take a step back. People have a limit of 24 hours a day. We assume that the noise in our head is in the head of other people like us. But there has never been a society which is so overloaded with noises, sights, and egos through the use of Smart phones and the internet.

So, we think what others want us to think; make quick choices others want us to make, which turn into habits at the end controlled by others. And habits, like well used runways, in the brain, are the hardest chains to break once built. Like I read once, we become carbon copies of present culture. The younger ones are the most vulnerable trying to copy in the wink of an eye.

Remember a choice is not a decision. It is only the spark that begins a decision through multiple steps which may result in forming habits, but that is another discussion."

Ebook Excerpt: Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

Why It Matters to Do Podcast Show Interviews the Right Way with Exciting News

Why It Matters to Do Podcast Show Interviews the Right Way with Exciting News 

If you want to live your purpose and make a difference

If you want to build a business that truly inspires you

If you want to help others 

It's time for the authors, speakers, consultants, and business leaders who want to serve a higher purpose that leads to profits to help change the standards of what it means to be in business.  Kathleen Gage 

This is a short blog to show my appreciation for a Podcast mentor-ship program by 

Kathleen Gage which I participated in every Tuesday for 2 hours for the last 6 weeks.

What I learned has brought me into the new age of internet marketing and true unlimited opportunities. I couldn't be more personally hyped and keen to share my breakthroughs.

Her training was a massive learning curve with professionalism, expertise, generosity, and warm personality. I now have at my fingertips a directory of over 500 podcast shows I can contact. Proper education is amazing to change your mindset and worldview. Once your mind has been stretched, it can never go back to old ways of thinking.

What I knew before Kathleen:

15 years ago, I took early retirement from a teaching career to pursue the ideal of a home-based business via multi-level marketing which quickly turned into internet marketing. I simply close my mind to how many endless hours, days, weeks were spent trying to master how to brand yourself to stand out in the virtual landscape. However, information overload has only increased more competitively. Blogs and ads, views and comments, are quick clicks to the next shiny object. This may work for cupcakes and calibers.  

But how do you get people to stop and really listen to your story or mission to make a difference in the world?

       

What I know now after working with Kathleen:

Podcasts interviews are growing in popularity and show host or hostesses are interested to share an interesting story with their audiences. However, there are skills and processes to do this professionally. To start with, you need to set up an Expert One Sheet and a Media Page for social proof. You learn how to find podcast opportunities on iTunes and Google Play. You follow an interview process checklist with or without customized questions to answer. You learn how to re-purpose content for specific shows. And so much more...

Just imagine, how important it is to be able to share your message for an hour at a time! There is no ad, video or blog that can close to the value you offer to an interested audience. 

Also. you get to share your podcast permalinks on your social media sites...the book shelve value is priceless. 

QUESTION: Is your message or content worth more than a 2 second click?

Kathleen's training offers much more content, also support and inspiration. The good news is she is starting a new How to Really Get 100 Podcast Interviews starting on Nov. 4. 

  

I would highly recommend if you share her passions to help you share yours, then make 2020 your year to stand out and make a difference.

Learn more about her website. 

Wishing you much success with podcast opportunities. Questions and comments are always welcome. 

Sincerely,

Annemarie Berukoff

833 471 4661

https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com

Seven Parents' Solutions to Wasting Time by Teenagers on Social Media and More About Mindset

Seven Parents’ Solutions to Wasting Time by Teenagers on Social Media and More about Mindset

It is conventional wisdom that Steve Jobs put a ‘dent in the universe’. No, he didn’t. Steve Jobs, in my view, spat on the universe. People who get up every morning, get their kids dressed, get them to school and who have an irrational passion for their kids well being, dent the universe. The world needs more homes with engaged parents, not a better f•ckin phone. Scott Galloway ‘the four’:

I received this comment from a parent who read my ebook TeenGirl Faces Time in the Sand.

I’m looking for some advice about setting some rules for my teen daughter crazy hours on social media. She doesn't seem able to want to talk anymore…Susan B

My first response is to share your concerns with a question: did your daughter also read the e-book?  A short story (54 pages) about one teen girl who made mistakes because of social media and found survival with a special superpower tool by which to respect her choices and timeline. I believe a change in personal mindset is necessary to find or believe in a more important value than living in a virtual world.

The biggest question is how can anyone control this technological digitized tide? Social media has flooded our society and cultural values. We have all been thrown into these radical changes and must learn to swim or sink. As adults, we have more maturity to handle the ebb and flow; and even then, we can make serious mistakes. 

However, as teenagers who are still developing their self-identity and social consciousness, their experiences can have long term consequences. How can we prevent a tragedy of a teen girl who makes a bad choice that can affect her potential for a lifetime? What kind of solution is personal and more permanent even beyond parental involvement?

But first, there are a few strategies that will help teens navigate social media:

1. Be a role model yourself by using less cell phones.
2. Keep dialogue open about ways to stay safe especially with new apps and websites. Ask questions about purpose and experiences.
3. Ask your teenager to keep a weekly or monthly  calendar to track and update activities. It’s a place to set personal goals and action plans.  As well, an online daily planner can keep track of assignments to be responsible for getting work done. Be sure the teen keeps the routine without constant reminders and no need to nag.
4. Of course, trying to tell teenagers what to do, doesn’t work well and may question their ability to “grow up” on their terms. But you can talk about why it is important to create a schedule with a list of priorities to use time wisely. Make specific times for video games or social media as well as for chores, homework and other responsibilities, including time for fun, too. Break big tasks into smaller ones.
5. Talk about how to resolve conflicts in time management based on values and commitments. Is a movie date more important  than a family dinner?
6. Set parental rules about your expectations as part of the teen’s list of priorities. Some rules will help to create healthy habits. Explain consequences when necessary. Don’t punish but reward better cell phone usage.
7. Off course, to take the cell phone away is like an amputation to a living social being which can create more angst, frustration or depression. But you can try to set limits on electronics. The daily planner with a self-written list of things to do, may limit the number of hours playing games, posing and texting.

As you can see, for both parent and teenager, with so much digital competition, specific time management is essential. A personal framework must be set up to plan, sets goals with action plans, to list priorities, note achievements and not to procrastinate.  Nobody wants high levels of stress trying to cope with information overload or be a lifelong procrastinator.

Bottom line: Nobody wants to waste time. So do you agree that wasting time is a negative value in our society? If so, what can we do to show that time is your most valuable resource…you can only play it forward inside a circle of Today, and once it turns into a block called Yesterday, it can’t be replayed. However, the blocks from the Past are the foundation for the Present which lead into the Future.

The strange paradox of time, in its infinity,  is that it can only be managed in a very small-time frame called today and today can be sparked by a tinier matter of choice.

But how can you explain this to a young teen age girl? The question is asked in the story: What if you had the power to see the future and how your actions today may affect tomorrow? Would you make the same choice?

As basic solutions, I believe we all agree that open communication and time management skills are important to keep teenagers safe from risky online exposure and wrong choices.  

However, as an educator, I think we need more. Teenagers need to develop a stronger mindset that their own time is as valuable, if not more valuable, than screen time playing in someone else’s reality. Their solution is personal, meaningful and more permanent.

A mindset is developed via a learning process and lesson plans. Read the next blog about understanding why a new TIME MINDSET is so important to deflect from wasting time on social media with specific lesson plans.

Sincerely,

Annemarie Berukoff

amarie10@gmail.com

833 471 4661

Excerpts from Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand:

"You're right, dear," Grannie said quietly. "I don’t know and I can't undo your past but there is a truth I know can help you from now on.

There's a strange magic begins to happen when you know that TIME controls a CHOICE and a HABIT, but HABIT is NOT THE SAME THING AS A CHOICE.  A choice can happen in an instant. A habit will follow you as heavy and long as you want.

But this choice is instant, like a match flame. Ignite a wrong choice; it can lead to bad habits … even burn out your foundation who you want to be. Or you can make the right choice which becomes a stepping stone towards better habits and future..."

"I am waiting for something big to happen, like in the movies, but Grannie continues,

"In fact, let me take a step back. People have a limit of 24 hours a day. We assume that the noise in our head is in the head of other people like us. But there has never been a society which is so overloaded with noises, sights, and egos through the use of Smart phones and the internet.

So, we think what others want us to think; make quick choices others want us to make, which turn into habits at the end controlled by others. And habits, like well used runways, in the brain, are the hardest chains to break once built. Like I read once, we become carbon copies of present culture. The younger ones are the most vulnerable trying to copy in the wink of an eye.

Remember a choice is not a decision. It is only the spark that begins a decision through multiple steps which may result in forming habits, but that is another discussion."

  

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