Dr. Josh Briley - Psychologist, Parkland Health Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You can tell that's an old song history practical math. Yeah,
I wish they were teaching more of that. Six twenty
two is their time here in Houston's Morning News. But
the kids are going back to school. That's always exciting,
especially for moms and dads who get a chance to,
you know, have the young ones go off to school,
do their things so they can get back into their
own routine. Doctor Josh Brilly joins us psychiatrists for Parkland Health.

(00:26):
We want to talk to you about a couple of things,
doctor Brilly, But let's let's start with a cell phone
band here, because I think the people who are going
to have the biggest adjustment are not the kids, it's
the parents.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yesterday morning, and actually just a small cruction. I'm a
psychologist with PARKLINGBI.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Let me make that correction, all right, all.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Right, yeah, so the yes, as you said, parents are
going to have some difficulty with with this new band.
Part of the reason is that we as parents have
gotten used to pretty much having twenty four to seven

(01:09):
contact with our children. We can text them whenever we want,
we can check our phones to see their physical location.
You know, we've just become accustomed to this and one
effect of the kids not being able to have their
phones in the schools is we no longer have that
instant access to them.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Is that healthy? Is that healthy? By the way, for
parents just to be you know, twenty four to seven
in the league like they have to have contact with
their child.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
I think it. As with anything, I think it depends
on the motivation. If you have this kind of you know,
anxiety about where my kid is or being able to
reach out to them at all times, and you get
really worried if you don't, then it's problematic. But if

(02:00):
you're using it just for you know, hey, meet me
here instead of where we normally meet, or I'll be
five minutes late picking you up, or your kid being
able to reach out you know, hey, school got out early,
or practice ind it early. That's that's healthy if you're
using it that way.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
But if you're.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Constantly checking on your fay location and texting you know,
how are you doing? Are you okay?

Speaker 1 (02:22):
That's a little problematic, right exactly. Well, there's the difference
between just wanting to communicate and being a helicopter parent,
and I think we can probably all agree that helicopter
parenting is probably not the healthiest thing to do for
yourself or your child.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Right, correct, Yes, it is important to let your child
having an inappropriate amount of freedom, be able to explore,
be able to learn the world on their own, and
yet still be able to come back to you when
they feel necessary. That's a secure attachment.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Okay, Well, we know that the punishment is going to
be confiscation, and it depends on the school system as
to whether or not there'll be any sort of a
fee involved. I understand the day is going to institute
a fee after a certain amount of instances for return
of the phone because they figure if you are repeat
offender after three times, you're not getting the message, so
that that's one way to handle it. I guess what

(03:12):
do you see? Is the biggest issue for most school
students is how big of a problem is bullying at
this point?

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Bullying? Well, bullying has always unfortunately been part of childhood
and it doesn't actually change much as we grow into adults.
Their adult bullies as well. We don't usually talk about that,
but cyber bullying has become a big problem because we
all know, you know, the keyboard warriors. They sit behind

(03:41):
the safety of their screens and type of things that
they would probably never say to the person face to face.
And this is especially damaging to children who are developing
their personalities, their self esteem, their sense of worth, all
of that, and for people to you know, because traditionally

(04:03):
bullying was one kid or you know, a small group
picking on someone, which is damaging enough, but now like
hundreds or thousands of people can join in and point
out one little thing, one of mistake you made and
just keep.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Hammering me on it.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
And so I think one long term benefit of this
cell phone band is that kids will at least be
spared that for a few hours a day.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, and maybe they'll also realize they're happier when they're
not on social media all the time and maybe give
it up for a while. Wouldn't that be a good idea,
It would be a good idea.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
I don't actually see that happening. We're two connected with
social media, both adults and kids. But I do see
some long term mental health benefits coming from this. Studies
that have you know, looked into this. You know, kids
who are in schools of cell phone bands have seen
a drop in anxiety, a drop in depression, and even

(05:00):
a slide increase in test scores.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Well, those are all good things. Put down the cell phone,
doctor Brilly, thank you for joining us. Good to talk
to you this morning. I appreciate it that as psychologist
doctor Josh Brilly, he's with Parkland Health at six twenty seven.
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