To wonder how the Hell you limit screen time on this day and age

[ThePassionOfHoneydragon]

Obviously other than the obvious

"You've been on XYZ long enough, do something else"

As long as dcs are not totally sedantry and passive how important is it?

Eg, if you have a strict two hours a day only rule, and their homework on the pc takes 2.5 hours is that it for the day? No tv, no pc, tablet, kindle or whatever it is you might have in the house?

Does a child happily absorbed in say, Percy Jackson, for 3 hours on an ereader/tablet count as reading a book or screen time?

On here and in RL I find some people really unnecessarily snotty and judgemental about other people's children apparently having too much "screen time".

So what is too much for you and what do you class as screen time?

Mine are now teens, I don't limit it and haven't been super strict about it, ever really.

It was never allowed on in the mornings before school, I remember that much and homework had to be done before they went on it after school.

They've grown out of it now, ds3-14 still does FIFA with his mates once a day .

Self regulation here. DS has a reasonably long primary school day and plays a lot of sport on the weekend. As long as it doesn't impact on stuff like homework, getting dressed and ready when asked, coming to the table when dinner is ready, I'm not too bothered. I do require him to be in a public space though, not holed up in his bedroom. A couple of his friends who have very formal restrictions on screen time have become absolutely obsessed with screens and constantly ask their parents if/ when they can play something, want to come over to visit for the sole purpose of accessing my son's iPad etc. DS thinks they are nuts (and the nagging would drive me crazy)

Don't have e-readers for several reasons.There are studies which show kids read more if they read real books than on e- readers,I think it is unnecessary screen time and as far as I can make out you can't share books on them(happy to be corrected as they could be useful for holidays).

I class all screens as screen time and like my dc to have a mix.We have a couple of nights with zero screens.Then after school they may have an hour of their choice if other stuff is done.At the weekend we often have a DVD on a Sat and they can have another hour on top.Sun if they get homework done they can have an hour.No screens past 6.30 on a school night,before school,in bedrooms and no screens out of the house or in cars.Car journeys are for being bored in imvho.

I monitor what they're doing so if they've been on a Minecraft too much I may say choose something else.We have no violent games and I like things they can be slightly creative on or move around to.They like Disney Infinity toybox,Minecraft and we have an Xbox 360.Ds 10 loves Scratch and making stuff on that.He also loves learning other coding languages and doing coding stuff on the Macbook.If the weather is lovely I may say no screens at all and insist they go outdoors more.Sometimes if I see something good is on Iplayer I may say we'll watch this instead of going on the XBox/Macbook/Ipad or Ipods.During the hols it's no screens until just before tea so they know they have to amuse themselves all day.

They may well run over their hour at times.Dc are 10,10 and 9. May need to adjust things when more homework is done on screens.At the moment it counts as screen time.Happy for a mix of research on screens and in books.At the moment I make them look up words in my masshoooove Oxford Dictionary instead of on their IPods which drives them crackers.Screen time is taken away if they are naughty.

Don't care if I sound smug or restrictive.Too much unmonitored screen time isn't good for kids and it seems to work.I'm tough re a lot of things.Whinging and whining doesn't bother me.The dc have got into good habits and generally just click off when asked.If they don't they lose screen time the following day.They read a lot,learn the piano,have a fair bit of homework,go to Brownies/Scouts,play with their friends and love their bikes so to be honest actual possible time to be on screens is quite limited(cuts out a lot of problems).During the hols I drag them to the beach/woods etc most days.

To be honest I'm the one that needs to monitor my usage more so any tips re that would be great.

Self regulation here. DS has a reasonably long primary school day and plays a lot of sport on the weekend. As long as it doesn't impact on stuff like homework, getting dressed and ready when asked, coming to the table when dinner is ready, I'm not too bothered. I do require him to be in a public space though, not holed up in his bedroom. A couple of his friends who have very formal restrictions on screen time have become absolutely obsessed with screens and constantly ask their parents if/ when they can play something, want to come over to visit for the sole purpose of accessing my son's iPad etc. DS thinks they are nuts (and the nagging would drive me crazy)

We tried self-regulation. That seemed to mean about 4 hours a day when all added up, esp the teen.

We changed it to no screens on school days (except homework), an then about 1.5 at weekends.

They adapted very quickly to it after we explained.

DH says of all this screen type stuff was available when he was a teen he would never have left the house.

I asked my optician about his opinion on reading on kindles etc a just as a matter of interest (I am a total dinosaur and love reading an actual book) and he said kindles are brilliant, no strain on the eyes and sometimes better as you can change the size of the font etc.

Screen time in this hose....hmmm, too long I think sometimes although we do limit DS in the week and make him come off at a certain time. We are pretty slack weekends really and once homework is done then unless we have something specific to don then it's pretty much up to him.

Another who doesnt regulate. Dss both at secondary and talk to their friends whilst playing on xbox. All my dcs are very active away from screens so I have no worries at the moment.

What is the fear over screen time?

My DGC have literally hundreds of books in their home but also have lots of electronic gadgets.

I think it's just a sign of the times isn't it.

A bit like when we got our first television set there was the exact same drama going on. How much TV time? We'd get square eyes if we watched it too much etc. We'd all end up addicted to TV.

Even though I have DGC, I have always worked in jobs that required IT knowledge. Even my first job involved dinosaur computers.

I have just absorbed modern technology as it became available. I think that the DC of today will do the same.

My DGD asked me over Easter what the exact meaning of Easter was. Why was it called Easter and not some other name.

I told her never ever just wonder about something. It was 10 o'clock at night so I told her to google it. She then spent 1 hour exploring all the different meanings she could find.

Please don't flame me for letting a 10 year old stay up so late. I used to let my own DC stay up late during holidays and weekends. The only rule was that they had to be doing something constructive (like reading) or in DS's case his obsession with building Lego towns.

I've been wondering this OP.

My boys would happily play cool maths games or mathletics for hours but DP is still twitchy about it because it's a screen.

They are both really active little boys who play at least 2 hours of sport/physical play every day. They socialise well eat well, sleep well etc etc.

I do wonder if we're at a point with technology as advanced as it is where screen time is just a given.

IMO if you need to regulate screen time, your DC don't have alternatives. Mine prefer trampoline/bikes if weather is good and Lego/drawing/trains. I have no limits but we very rarely have tv on during the day unless due to illness and it usually only goes on in the evenings. We watch films rather than programmes - again at dc's choice.

See I don't want enlarged fonts but my dc to be used to reading a variety of fonts and sizes so when they come across tiny print/unusual fonts they aren't thrown.

There are studies which say kids read and comprehend less on Kindles.My dc love books so no need for them here.If it ain't broke.......however the saying goes.

That said for holidays in order to cut down on hauling piles of books around they could be useful.Bit miffed that you can't buy a book and put it on multiple Kindles though.My dc borrowing each other's Kindles just wouldn't work.

It really depends on the age of the children. When they were younger it was all about Lego, Power Rangers, art and crafty stuff and going out on their bikes.

DS1 is nearly 15 and it's all about PS4 games, Skype and playing football.

Sometimes I just declare 'no screens' if they have been zombiefied by endless minecrafting or stuck on cbbc and not moved all day. Doesn't happen very often though - at the start of the hols they had a day like that, now the novelty has worn off they set their own balance.

It's much easier to regulate when they are young, I have two teens and they spend a lot of time looking at a screen. My ds has a lot of screen time of you add up what he does but he spends more time playing football and playing with toys.

My DD is 9 and the only screen rule we have is no kids tv after 6pm.

She has never been one to just sit in front of the tv - it will almost always be background whilst she's doing something else.
She uses her iPad a lot, sometimes for games (which she often plays remotely with friends - handy for an only child!), to Facetime/Skype her friends & grandparents, as an eReader, to write stories & make animations.

If it gets to the point when it's getting aggravating, I'll suggest we play a game or do an art/craft activity together, which we'll do in the dining room away from any screens.

If she's got a lot of homework, she has to do it before screens come out after school on a Friday, and the iPad is the first thing to go if she plays up which tends to be very effective!

Kids TV. I did have to ban-

Good Luck Charlie
ANT Farm
Hey Jessie

Shrieky American rubbish.

Weekdays we don't do screen time till after 7 in the evening, none in the morning - usually we eat around 7.30, so they get maybe one hour a day...weekends they tend to get some morning time - about 2-3 hours before I insist they do something else. They are 10 years old and that's been our screen routine since they were small.

No TV in the week, and a couple of videos at weekends or during holiday time. Occasional documentaries. No computer games at all. DD (4) won't need to use a computer for any school work until she is 14, so there is no worry about internet use until that age.

How do we limit it? By saying no - it's not hard to do, and it has challenged us as a family to do stuff together or spend time talking instead of relying on a box in the corner to entertain us.

Self regulated here.
Dd has plenty of technology access and it varies how much she uses it. She is 12.

In the holidays she will sit and watch TV/films a lot more, but on school says she will often watch very little if any at all. She will choose to read her kindle at breakfast and after school,or will be at a club or meeting a friend.

She isn't much of a gamer at all so that's not been an issue. The ps3 is used more as a DVD player. Can't remember last time it was used to play games infact. Her very old ds hasn't been out for ages either.

She does have a smartphone and used that a lot more it she knows it doesn't come out at meal times, when we have guests over - unless her guests and they are doing things together. Her laptop is mainly for homework and occasionally Sims.

I would never consider an e-reader screen time though. I treat it the same as I would any other book.
Since dd got a kindle - just a basic one - her reading increased massively. She finds the screen easier to read on as it is not black on bright white and can alter the font size accordingly.

Worldgonecrazy - how do you know your DD won't need a computer for homework until she's 14? My two both have a mix of reading, spelling, maths and online homework each week (Studyladder) and have done from age 5.

My dcs prefer to read paper books, but if they were keen on e readers I wouldn't include that in screen time.