The researchers found that the more parents used social media, the more likely they were to exhibit lower levels of warm parenting. Of the respondents whose parents engaged with social media for more than seven hours a day, more than a third said they were depressed. Of the young survey respondents in the least warm group, whose parents were less responsive and loving, 88 percent were high on depression.Д«ut parenting style also showed up in relation to how adults used technology and its potential consequences for their children.Дepression was higher among adolescents whose parents reported greater levels of their own social media use. 'They listen and treat me as an equal instead of assuming IвЂ™m up to no good,' said one participant. Those teens also described parental supportiveness that would, in theory, help them feel more confident about their choices. For teens who reported the 'warmest' parenting, only 13 percent reported high levels of depression. In this study, the researchers indeed found that 'warm, responsive, and engaged parenting' was strongly protective for teen mental health. (Other styles include authoritarian and permissive parenting.) Research has long suggested that a responsive and supportive yet firm approach, known as authoritative parenting, is positively associated with a child's self-esteem, optimism, and resilience, among other qualities.

That parenting style matters for a child's mental health is no surprise. (While not nationally representative, the survey used a national sample.) The researchers found that parenting style and parents' personal technology use appears to significantly influence their child's mental health and well-being. The report's co-authors conducted a survey of 1,231 adolescents and their parents from across the U.S. But a new report published by the Wheatley Institution at Brigham Young University found that parents might be overlooking a critical factor in this complex equation: their own parenting style. More commonly, they make social comparisons about perfectly curated images that play into their feelings of insecurity - and that can be terrible for their mental health.Дesperate for a quick, effective solution, caregivers might delay getting their tween or teen a smartphone, make use of parental controls on devices and apps, severely limit how and when their child can go online, or try all of those things. They encountered bullies, spent sleepless nights playing video games, or lost themselves in anonymous message boards riddled with hate speech and conspiracy theories.

Parents know the horror stories told about children with unfettered or unsupervised access to the internet.

That means you're left trying to determine how your child's internet use competes with - or complements - aspects of their well-being like sleep, physical activity, and socialization.

Of course, the companies trying to win young customers design their digital products to be as engaging as possible, with experiences and algorithms that pull users in for as long as possible. Just as quickly as you've set boundaries around their smartphone or tablet use, they present an urgent request to play a popular game or message with friends on a new app. Trying to parent a kid with an internet-connected device can feel like a game of whack-a-mole. Life > Health & Wellness > Mental Health

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