We’ve heard a lot about the too-online teen. It’s indisputable that children are growing up more immersed in technology and the internet than ever before, which has led to a genre of pieces dedicated to the harms and benefits of growing up in front of screens. “Is Your Child a Digital Addict? Here’s What You Can Do” a headline in The New York Times’s parenting section advises. “There’s Worrying New Research About Kids’ Screen Time and Their Mental Health,” TIME frets.
Yet as any Gen Z teen well knows, many parents today, especially those on the younger end, are often just as online, if not more so, as their kids. According to a 2015 national survey by Common Sense Media, teens spend an average of nine hours a day on media use; yet a 2016 survey of parents found that they also spent an average of nine hours on their screens. We’ve heard a lot about kids who grow up as native internet users, but what is it like to grow up with parents who may be just as invested in their online life as their real ones?
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