Here are Some Ways to Limit Your Teen’s Screen Time

According to a recent study, teens spend around nine hours in front of their digital devices. This means they are spending almost six to eight hours a day glued to their devices such as tablets and mobile phones. Their screen time has excessively increased due to the rise of social media.

As soon as a teen wakes up, he/she spends about an hour in front of a screen while still being in the bed. When they wake up, some of them also take their devices to their washrooms and continue using them. They use the same devices in their schools and colleges. Once they are back home, instead of spending time doing other activities, they spend time on their devices.

The rise of social media has made the majority of teens dependent on their digital devices. Popular social media apps like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram have caused a lot of teens to spend their time in front of screens.

As per another study, it has been found that lots of screen time is harmful to the teens as it equates to poor mental health, especially in girls. Experts recommend reducing the screen time to just one or two hours a day.

In today’s age, it may be quite difficult to pull your teens away from their mobile phones. However, if you are a concerned parent then you can adopt the following ways to limit your teen’s screen time.  

Be A Role Model or An Example

While teens may act as if they have become independent and can make decisions on their own, the truth is they still are in the developing stage and pay a lot of attention to their parents’ habits. It is important for parents to be a role model for their kids by spending less screen time. They should set a good example by limiting their own screen time when they are at home in front of their kids.

Before expecting your teens to follow a set of rules, you must first observe them yourself. It’s a fact that teens will follow the screen time rules if everyone in the home has to abide by them. This will you’re your teens develop a sense of commitment, restraint, and discipline. The same skills can be applied to their other important areas of life as well.

Make Screen Time a Privilege

Parents should treat screen time as a privilege. They should make their teens understand that having a smartphone, laptop, or a tablet is a privilege, not a right. Parents should make their teens earn screen time instead of giving it away easily and they should also make it clear that the same privilege can be taken away from them at any time.

Once the teen has finished with their homework, chores, and dinner, they should be allowed screen time. This is the only way to make screen time a privilege for your teens.

Make Use of Parental Controls

Another way of limiting your teen’s screen time is to deploy parental controls and monitoring solutions on their devices. For instance, if they are using a Windows laptop, then parents can set parental controls on them such as screen time settings. The Windows OS allows them to choose the hours in which they want their teens to use the computer and for how long.

If the teen tries to use the computer outside of the designated hours or time limit, a notification or an alert will appear that requires their parents to log in to provide the access.

Similarly, parents can also install parental control or monitoring apps on their teen’s mobile phones to keep a track of their activities and observe how much time they are spending in front of the screen.

 

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