What are your top tips for maintaining a healthy balance when it comes to technology use in your family? Share with BT

[EllieMumsnet]

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With technology making up a big part of many peoples’ lives, including childrens’, there is a lot of conversation around how to ensure technology doesn’t completely take over family life. Technology can be a great source of education, entertainment, downtime and for some an essential part of work. BT and Internet Matters have teamed up to create their own list of tips for making sure your family has a healthy balance with technology, please click here to read them, but they would also really love to know your top tips.

Here’s what Bruce Cuthbert, Director of BT Devices has to say: “There are so many benefits for our children online, and an equal number of distractions. With kids back in school and autumn upon us, we’re spending more time indoors and the temptation is for kids to spend more time online. With Whole Home Wi-Fi, parents can pause the wi-fi and schedule wi-fi access device by device, to help children focus during study time and make bedtimes that bit easier, finding the right balance of online and offline time for the whole family. To find out more about Whole Home Wi-Fi, please click here.”

Do you have a time when you’ve agreed that you and your family will be off your devices, such as by dinner time? Perhaps you ensure that you have family days out and don’t take any technology with you? Maybe you go old-school and play board games on an evening with the family instead of watching tv? What if you were able to group your kids devices and then pause their wi-fi access at certain times; would this be useful to you?

Whatever your top tips are for maintaining a healthy balance when it comes to technology use in your family, post them on the thread below and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

1. No screens upstairs.
2. no screens at mealtimes.
3. All screens off a minimum of an hour before bedtime.
4. during holidays they have a series of requirements before screen time and no more than two consecutive hours on a screen before taking a break and doing something else.

I tend to limit tablet time more than TV time as it feels less social. Love the idea of being able to pause the WiFi though! We do not have hard and fast rules but go with what feels right at the time. I also want to delay my child getting a smartphone for as long as possible.

Mine are now 6th formers & at Uni, When they were in secondary school they had to do homework & chores then they got the wi-fi password.

tablet in a drawer at night, phone with airplane mode, apps that give reminders to take a break, or that block blue light, etc.

I love the screen time update from Apple, we can restrict screen time for the kids including times so they have to request more! But we also can restrict for ourselves!

Brilliant addition!

And we have a definite no screen time while eating together, no matter what age it's just rude

Adults have No screen time when eating, my kids don’t have a tablet or phone (they are young).
They get to go on the pc for maths games and a rare treat is playing pc games.
I feel like a bit of a Scrooge reading that back!

1. No mobiles/tablets at dinner.
2. No technology use until homework is done (unless the internet is needed for the homework)
3. All mobiles, and computers off by 9 pm. No tv on,y books in bed.

4.no mobiles in bedroom at bedtime 5.weekends mobiles and computers allowed during the day but not to excess.

We are quite flexible about this and don't have any set rules, apart from no screens at the dinner table. I do monitor how much screen time my DC are allowed although it varies between the teenagers and my youngest DC.

1. No phones/tablets on school mornings though children do have TV on in the morning - generally well enforced
2. No phones/tablets at meal times - this is more of an issue as DS1 is fine about respecting this but DS2 will bring the game he's playing on an old phone with no contract/SIM of its own to the table and walk round the house playing with it and getting him to put it down at teatime is a battle

DP and I have differences of opinion - most of our ground floor is one room with the dining table and sofa and TV and my desktop computer all there and a small kitchen. I would have liked to turn the TV off for family mealtimes but DP never got this and so it's been impossible to introduce it.

He has taken seriously and so the kids have accepted no internet stuff on school mornings though they do have TV on. They don't have a TV in their rooms. I am still arguing with DP that it's a really bad idea to show them videos in their bath - bathtime should be really focused on just that.

I also think there are issues about example from both of us. My desk and desktop computer are very near the dining table and I tend to just turn my chair around but sometimes it's tempting to read something on screen at the same time. So I feel like a hypocrite. DP watches stuff on his phone constantly including in his own bath and in the kitchen, and I am sure he doesn't realise that this is terrible role modelling.

DS1 11 loves playing computer games and using my desktop when I'm not, and laptop otherwise, but he's quite self motivated. As he's started secondary school he has regular homework which requires internet and computer access, including online learning for Maths and looking things up for other subjects. He's quite good at accepting rules when they're laid down but sometimes needs reminding eg I've come home and found someone has left my m,ouse all greasy from moving straight from eating not using a knife and fork to playing around on the computer. I have also asked him not to eat at a computer, as this is even more annoying for the laptop than the desktop - I want to switch keyboards anyway and have several to choose from for the desktop.

I worry about content but just try to keep an eye/ear out for anything dodgy. DS2 (10 next month) wants to be a Youtube celebrity through playing games but he doesn't really know anything about how to build a presence (thank goodness, say I, FFS he's only 9!). We have found him uploading some very dull stuff on Youtube which dp deletes.

Afraid that I worry more than I do.

though DS1 (11) did use my desktop computer for last minute homework before school the other day. His dad wouldn't have let him use it for anything else (I was upstairs getting ready at the time) and he's quite self-motivated. He really enjoys playing games but will put them down at times when devices aren't allowed.

I would love to be able to freeze the wifi access, not necessarily at a certain time but more when I need them to put down devices and eat tea, get ready to go out or whatever.

My last post should have said that I worry a lot but don't do enough about it.

We try to limit our four year old's screen time and avoid it at meals. OH likes the telly on as background noise but I'd prefer to have it off. Overall, I think we have a good balance.

We have tried to take a balanced approach but no screens are allowed at meals, or before bedtime, and limited daily allowances.

Mealtimes and bedtimes are screenfree but the rest of the time feels like I've lost the battle. Family days out are rare but good as we actually laugh and talk to each other.

I have a 17 year old. At her age, I think I do best by modelling sensible usage (so I don’t have my phone in my bedroom etc) and we all used an app recently to track how long we spend on different sites. I didn’t ask to see her results but was upfront about mine - and th3 amount of time I spend faffing on mumsnet was an eye opener! Just seeing and tracking what we do has made us all adapt our behaviour I think

We turn the TV off at mealtimes.
The DC don't have any screens if their own at the moment which makes things easier though we know this will change!
I know me & DH should look at our phones less and this is something we're working on!
As a family we do love a board game so intend to do this more

It is a tricky one but it is about balance I think, I have two teenagers among my children and whether we like it or not a lot of social activity is through social media.
We never have phones or devices at meal times and I make sure my two younger ones don't have devices on too late and have time to relax and switch off before their bedtimes. I think a balance of letting them have technology and making sure they also aren't stuck in rooms and get out and about.
Also I make it clear to them how I feel about social media and that they are careful about what they share and what sites they are on. I think we have to progress and understand that things have changed a lot since our childhood/teenage years however I think we can still have a good bit of control and involvement in it.

The only rule in our house is no phones or tech at the table. Other than that there's no rules and we're pretty lucky that while they both enjoy their screen time, after about 20 minutes they've had enough and put it down to do something else.

1 hour after homework works for us.

Congratulations to flowersfromheaven for winning the £300 voucher

We have a guest WiFi network and when the kids time is up and it’s bedtime, their network goes off! Get a few shouts but hey ho 😛

No technology on family days out or family gatherings but the kids in the family are allowed to watch at meal times as they tend to eat more this way and not get bored/distracted! We all try to not use our phones at ‘banned times’ as otherwise they’ll want YouTube etc

We always balance going out & about (walks, picnics, free activities etc) with screen time.

We are completely screen free at mealtimes (including TV!) and my kids (4 and 7) don't have access to tablets or phones. We do have an Xbox and my 7 year old is allowed an hour of minecraft on a Sunday IF she has behaved herself all week.

This is so hard as my kids are drawn to devices like moths. We have a no device rule after dinner and thats with no expection. They earn time on the ipad after school by cleaning their teeth in the morning and good behaviour and I try and limit them in the morning or try not to get them out. I hide the devices at night so they can't find them in the morning and thats how I keep them off.

We put time limits on devices.
They don't get to go on devices on the weekend until household jobs - cleaning rooms, putting clothes away and homework is all done.
We do have to give warnings as I've learnt from experience that 'hand it over now' isn't good. A 15 minute warning to finish the game works.