Your Biggest Competition Isn’t You

Some people will say that the biggest competition is you. Well, in my opinion, it isn’t. I feel strongly about this.

What is then? Drum roll, please…

Your phone is your biggest obstacle. I’ve already addressed a little bit of it here.

Our teenagers are so consumed with a small screen that it is weighing them down.

In fact, the average screen time for a teenager is 7 hours and 2 minutes [source]. Can you believe that? If you’ve been around teens recently you will!

It’s truly an epidemic that is going under the radar because it doesn’t have immediate consequences.

But, if it’s not managed, our youth will be soaked in regret.

• They will regret not trying harder.
• They will regret spending hours on social media.
• They will regret comparing themselves to the other midfielder.
• They will regret not doing enough in their formative years.

Regret is poison.

As a parent, I think it’s our job to help manage some aspects of our kid’s lives. Screen time is one of them.

For our 14-year-old, we limit his phone to one-hour on the weekdays and two-hours on the weekends. This seems to work for us and him.

If you find that your child is on their phone a lot (north of 4 hours per day) then I think it’s time to evaluate whether you should set a limit.

• Manage screen time on an iPhone
• Manage screen time on Android
• Manage screen time on Google Pixel

One thing soccer players will never regret is trying their best. They can only do that if they put their phone down.