Goal: To help you to take the slow-tech road! You can use a step by step process for introducing tech. This is easier now than ever with so many great options! We don’t recommend giving personal devices to kids. Start with a shared family device and then you can...
5 Ways to Roll Back the Phone-Based Childhood
In Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation, he boldly states: "...the Great Rewiring of Childhood, in which the phone-based childhood replaced the play-based childhood, is the major cause of the international epidemic of adolescent mental illness." And he cites a lot...
The Anxious Generation is here!
This book should be required reading for every Big Tech CEO and employee, parent, teacher, school administrator, and really—everyone.
Screen-Free Gift Guide 2023
The best SCREEN-FREE gift ideas for this holiday season.
Boost Your Child’s Mental Health into Adulthood—Delay the Smartphone
A new study shows that the older a person is when they get their first smartphone, the better their mental health in young adulthood.
Celebrating Screen-Free Week
Do you feel like your device controls you? Could you use a little jump-start to form better tech-habits? JOIN US for a screen free week from May 1st- May 7th! Screen-Free week is a world-wide invitation (led by Fairplay) to spend a week without using our digital...
It’s Been Five Years Since I Banned My Devices from the Bedroom
What started as an intention to be a better parent, turned into a five year journey of reclaiming my mornings and evenings from technology, and rediscovering what I call the Three R’s of resetting: rest, relationships, and rejuvenation.
Screen-Free Gift Guide 2022
The best gift ideas for this holiday season… but make it SCREEN-FREE.
Is 3 Hours of Gaming Per Day Really a Good Idea for Our Kids?
Recently Adam Grant, a thought leader with over one million followers, posted his thoughts on this study: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children This study of "nearly 2,000 children found that those who reported playing...
Is Your Teen Begging for BeReal?
BeReal gives you a random two-minute window to post a photo of whatever you are doing right then and there. Here’s what you need to know.
17 Summers: Screen Time Sanity Through All Ages & Stages
Here are the guiding principles for screen time that got us through 17 summers with kids and teens.
Why We Don’t Use a Teen Cell Phone Contract—and What We Do Instead
No, cell phone contracts aren’t bad, but I think they are an outdated solution for the challenges teens are facing online today.
Trust Your Gut—Five Ways Parents Can Lean into Their Intuition and Safeguard Their Kids Online
Parents should have regular technology discussions with kids and teens, check phones and social media weekly, and build trust over time.
Which Kid-Safe Smartphone is Right For Your Family?
We believe the best childhood is the one that is untethered to a device. However, at some point kids will start to learn tech as a tool. We share our slow-tech approach and how to choose the right kid-safe phone for your family when the time is right!
Battle Prep & Bubble Wrap—Two Types of Tech Talks That Will Save Your Kids
Bind your kids in bubble wrap when possible, but also prepare them for the battle of digital dangers that lie ahead with these two types of Tech Talks.
The Gryphon Router Makes Robust Parental Controls a Breeze
Set a time for your wifi to turn off at bedtime or homework time, block websites from devices, and check up on your security settings.
Is My Teen Ready for a Cell Phone?
Is my teen ready for a cell phone? This is the million-dollar question for parents today! There is no single right answer because every family and every teen is different.
We are parents who are still learning, but we’d like to share a few strategies that have helped us make this important decision.
Swap Likes on Your Phone for Love in Your Home
When we get a like on social media, it can feel a lot like getting a high five in real time. That dopamine hit feels good! While this isn’t necessarily bad, as parents we need to be mindful of how we might replace the likes on our phones, with love in our homes.
We’ve created 3 R’s to lead you to a healthy relationship with your phone AND your family.
Why We Love Turing Tumble
Turing Tumble is a computer game that doesn’t use electricity. We explain why we love this screen-free educational game so much.
Our Family’s Screen-Free Gift Guide
After years of storing our TV in the closet, living in a small home, and losing most of our belongings in an extensive house fire, we have a solid idea of which toys and activities are worth keeping around! We hope this list inspires you to create a home where your...
How to Create Your Own Family Blackout Night
Pull out the flashlights and candles. Turn off the lights.
Put away the devices.
And get ready for some unforgettable fun!
Easy Isn’t Always Best: Take Back the Family Road Trip
In our digital era, we often want to avoid boredom, discomfort, and dealing with the hard stuff. I know many families who allow free-reign with electronic devices on road trips for this reason. It’s much easier to hand everyone a device and just let everyone zone out, but if we do this, we miss out on unique opportunities to connect with one another.
Rethinking Screen Time Rewards
What’s wrong with a chore chart that allows our children to earn their screen time?
Career Guidance: An Opportunity to Connect With Your Teen
Are you struggling to connect with your teen? Are you wanting to help him or her discover strengths and start thinking about a career path? Guest author, Heather Glenn, shares some great ideas to help with career guidance and an exercise to help you work with your teen to discover their strengths.
Work With Your Kids to Plan a Fun Summer (Technology Boundaries Included!)
Your kids can help you to create summer screen time boundaries that will actually work! Not sure how? Click to read more.
Interview with Spencer Sessions: The Reality of a Virtual Reality
I am so grateful to Spencer Sessions for sharing his story about overcoming his gaming addiction. We recorded the call. I hope the ideas and strategies we share will help your family to keep screen time in check.
We’re Starting a Virtual Book Group!
Click here to read all of the details.
The Reality of a Virtual Reality
Guest author, Spencer Sessions, courageously stepped away from his gaming addiction to create a life of meaning and purpose.
Master or Slave? Evaluate Your Technology Use
Master or slave? We have an assessment to help you evaluate your personal technology use. Changing your own mindset, environment, and habits will help you to lead your family to better screen time.
Help Us Fix App Ratings
We are supporting a NEW movement called #fixappratings and we would love your help!
Should I Tighten or Loosen My Grip?
Do you ever feel scary, crazy, clueless, or controlling when it comes to technology and your kids? When we act out of fear, we tend to tighten our grip and overreact.
Ten Practical Tips for Parents from Dr. Dimitri Christakis
Dr. Dimitri Christakis, Director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s hospital recently gave an incredible presentation to parents on screen time and the developing brain. I’m sharing my favorite takeaways from his presentation.
Is the Gizmo Gadget a Good Fit for Your Family?
Are you wondering if a simplified watch might the solution you’re looking for? Whitney Archibald of howshemoms.com shares her review of the Gizmo Gadget.
Screen Time Check-In
As we talked with our teen, we came up with five questions that each of us, (including the parents!), can ask ourselves before we spend any quality time with our phones. You can print this out and put it by your charging station or take a screen shot and save it as your phone’s wallpaper to help you check-in throughout the day.
How to Help Your Teen Transition to a Smartphone
As parents we have to decide when (or if) we want our teens to use a smartphone.
We recently worked with our teen as she transitioned from a feature phone (flip phone) to a locked-down smartphone. This idea comes from our four-phase process.
In this post, we share some help on making this transition!
10 Easy, Screen-Free Ideas to Help You Connect with Your Kids Today
If we have strong bonds with other humans, we are much less likely to seek fulfillment in other ways. Johann Hari said, “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety; the opposite of addiction is connection.”
In this article Lyndsey Wells shares ten easy, screen-free ideas to help you connect with your kids today!
What I’m Doing Differently Because of Digital Minimalism
In Digital Minimalism, Newport shares the experiences of everyday people who participated in a digital decluttering journey. Their real life stories, coupled with historical examples and research, will inspire you to reconsider your own relationship with technology.
Create a Family Technology Plan + Parent/Teen Pledge, Not a Cell Phone Contract
We think that a family technology plan is much more useful than a cell phone contract! Here’s why.
Reset! 15 Independent Screen-Free Activities to Keep Our Kids Playing
The first week or two without screens might be rough; both for you and your kids! But, I promise it will be worth abandoning screens for awhile to help your kids learn what to do with boredom and how to interact with the real world.
Irresistible: How We Can Outsmart Technology Addiction
Irresistible, might look like it’s going to make you panic or want to throw your phone out the window, but it won’t. It will, however, inspire you to consider your relationship with technology and find solutions to help keep technology in its proper place. The author,...
What Are Your Daily Bookends?
Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect, says the bookends of our days are the key to a successful life. How can we minimize our technology use during the bookends of our daily life?
Set This Simple Limit to Expand Connection, Close Gaps, and Get Life Immediately Looking Up by Rachel Macy Stafford
One of my favorite parenting mentors, Rachel Macy Stafford, recently published an article on her site, handsfreemama.com, that really captures what our goal is at Better Screen Time. We want to learn to set limits so we can connect with our children and look into their eyes more. Rachel gave us permission to share part of her post here.
Top Communities to Help You Confidently Raise Kids in a Digital World
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the thought of raising kids in the digital world, you are not alone. Many parents feel this way, but there are some amazing communities out there to help you! Check out our list of top communities to help you confidently raise kids in a digital world.
Action-Takers—Making the Family Tech Think Tank Happen!
What does a Family Tech Think Tank look like? It will look different for every family! Today we’re sharing a snapshot from three families to help you get started.
Tips for Teaching Teens With Technology with The Mom Life Coach
Do you teach or work with teenagers in a volunteer or church setting? Are you wondering how to get them to look up from their device and connect with not only their learning, but with the people around them? Our friend, Chelsea, also known as the Mom Life Coach, has some great tips to help!
How-To: Use OpenDNS as a Starting Point for Internet Filtering
Are you wondering where to start when it comes to Internet filters? Tyler’s got you covered. In this short video he will walk you through the steps to set up OpenDNS to help filter the Internet in your home.
Three Key Steps to Permanently Improve Your Family Screen Time
Are you looking for a logical process to help you permanently improve screen time for your family? We’ve discovered three key steps that have helped our family to keep technology from taking center stage in our home.
Our Screen-Free Gift Guide (including our family’s initiation gifts!)
Two years ago, we moved across the country and moved into a much smaller home. We have a pretty good idea of what toys and items are worth hanging onto after that process! We’re sharing some of our favorites in our Screen-Free Gift Guide to help you with your gift-giving this year.
Five Strategies to Help Your Family Fight Technology Addiction
As children of the 80’s and 90’s we were taught about alcohol and drug addiction. Today there is a new type of addiction on the rise—technology addiction, and it is our job as parents in the digital era to teach our children about it.
Printable: Our Four-Phase Process
We have a great printable for you featuring our Four-Phase Process. Print it out, test it out, and consider how you might gradually give your children small amounts of responsibility one step at a time.
Three Concrete Ideas to Carry Your Family Through Rough Waters
As I watch windsurfers, kiteboarders, and sailors navigate on the river where I live, I’m reminded of the preparation and skill required to match the windy conditions and the turbulent water. What if we were just as diligent in preparing our children for the conditions and turbulence of living in the digital age?
Using Everyday Steps to Help You Put Technology in Its Proper Place
Over the past year I’ve read a lot of books, articles, and blog posts about screen time. Out of everything I’ve read, there is one particular book that stands out.
iOS 12 Screen Time Controls
With the update to iOS 12, those with Apple devices will have an easier time monitoring and limiting their screen usage. These new parental controls will be good for our kids—and for us! I think the day will come when all devices will automatically come with the...
Glow Kids: Research that will Motivate You to Create a Plan
Today I’m sharing highlights from a book I avoided for awhile because just looking at the cover made me feel anxious and worried. Glow Kids didn’t look like it applied to me. My kids don’t look like the screen-entranced kid on the cover, nor do I think they are addicted to screens. However, so many experts recommended this book; I had to find out why. And now, I’m the one recommending it.
Am I Ready for a Personal Device? {A Self-Evaluation for Teens}
A result of our Family Tech Think Tank: A list of 12 questions for kids and teens to ask themselves when they feel they are ready for a personal device or a cell phone. What would you put on your list?
![How Your Tech Guidelines Can Change As Your Children Grow with Kathy Keller Jones [Audio]](https://www.betterscreentime.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DSC_2343-400x250.jpg)
How Your Tech Guidelines Can Change As Your Children Grow with Kathy Keller Jones [Audio]
As our children get older, how do we give them more freedom with technology, but not give them free reign? Kathy Keller Jones, developmental psychologist and former kindergarten through eighth grade school counselor, shares her wisdom in this audio post.
How-To: Setting Up a Feature Phone with Ting
Parents often ask us how to get started with a feature phone for their child or teen. Tyler is our in-house techie, and he recorded a quick video to show you how we use Ting as our cell phone service provider.
Technoference: When Technology Gets in the Way
As I’ve been researching how my relationship with technology might affect my relationship with my kids, I came across an interesting term: technoference.
Ready…or Not? A Cell-Phone-Ready Checklist to Use with Your Child
We are excited to share a helpful tool we’ve been using with our family: a simple Cell-Phone-Ready Checklist! This checklist provides tangible and concrete benchmarks to keep expectations clear as you and your child discuss cell phones.
How-to: Set Up a Family Charging Station (and why!)
Your family charging station serves a more important purpose than charging your device! See how a designated charging station can actually simplify screen usage in your home.