I find simple “two hours of screens” rules harder to apply now because homework, messages from friends, drawing, videos and games all happen on the same device.
We are experimenting with limits around activities rather than total screen minutes: homework is homework, messaging has some freedom, and entertainment has a clearer cutoff. It feels more realistic, but also requires more judgment from us.
I am interested in how other families separate useful screen time from the kind that just expands to fill the evening.
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We do something similar, but I have to admit it needs more judgment than a simple rule. That can be tiring, though, because you’re making mo...
We do something similar, but I have to admit it needs more judgment than a simple rule. That can be tiring, though, because you’re making more decisions in the moment.
The judgment part is why I sometimes miss the old dumb rules. At least nobody had to debate whether drawing on a tablet counted as leisure or not.
I think the debate is the point, though. Kids do different things on the same device, so one blanket number can feel fake pretty quickly.
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I’m with you on activities instead of total minutes. It seems more realistic, even if it means the adults can’t just point at the clock and...
I’m with you on activities instead of total minutes. It seems more realistic, even if it means the adults can’t just point at the clock and be done with it.
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I like your split more than a hard screen limit. Homework and chatting with friends are not the same as disappearing into videos for three h...
I like your split more than a hard screen limit. Homework and chatting with friends are not the same as disappearing into videos for three hours and pretending it’s all “screen time.”
Same here. One hour of homework on a laptop is not the same beast as one hour of endless clips, no matter what the timer says.