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Excessive Internet Use

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Maintaining a healthy balance between entertainment media and other activities in children's lives has always been a challenge. The Internet has made this challenge even more difficult. This section explores how to recognize when excessive use has become problematic and how to address the issue.

  • Excessive Internet Use - Overview

    We don’t always hear the clock ticking when we’re online and young people are no exception. Between doing research for homework, talking with friends, updating social networking pages and playing games, it’s easy to see how kids and teens might lose track of time. Excessive Internet use, however, can negatively affect young people’s school work, health and social lives. Unfortunately, adults don’t usually discover this problem until it’s become serious.

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  • Responding to Excessive Use

    It’s tempting for parents to act authoritatively and lay down the law on the number of hours their kids can spend on the computer. But in order to effectively address excessive use, there needs to be an active, voluntary commitment on the part of the young person to control their behaviour. Otherwise, kids will just find ways to work around their parents – and be left to their own devices once they’re old enough to leave the house.

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  • Resources for Parents - Excessive Internet Use

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