5 Cool Ways to Help Teens Limit Their Screen Time

Even under normal circumstances, managing our kids' screen time has long been a challenge for parents—myself included! But finding a healthy balance between living in the real world and the virtual one can seem almost impossible during a pandemic when there are so many restrictions on how our kids, especially teens, can spend their free time.

Here are five ways the teens in your life can change it up and have some screen-free fun.

1. Consider your own attachment to screens

Before we try and redirect our young adults from their beloved devices, an excellent place to start is by rethinking how we as parents use them. Our children, regardless of their ages, continually observe us. They quietly monitor our daily habits, good and bad, and without our realizing it, they begin to mimic us. We're their ultimate role models!

A recent study found that adults (yes, us moms and dads!) spend more hours than we'd probably like to admit glued to gadgets such as phones, laptops, and televisions. Here's a quote from an article by StudyFinds.org:

A poll of 2,000 British adults, commissioned by Vision Direct, found that the typical person will spend a staggering 34 years looking at phones, computers, or televisions. During the typical adult lifespan, from ages 18-81, researchers say a person will be glued to their screens for over 13 hours a day. That adds up to 4,866 hours each year and a stunning 301,733 hours throughout those 62 adult years.

Wow! These statistics floored me. If I'm spending oodles of time attached to my electronics, why wouldn't my children feel they could do the same? Screens in our home provide an effective communication channel with the outside world, but we shouldn't allow easy access to stimulating content like videos, games, and social media to compromise an active lifestyle or direct interaction with loved ones.

We shouldn't allow easy access to stimulating content like videos, games, and social media to compromise an active lifestyle or direct interaction with loved ones.

Before you start trying to shift your kids away from their screens, take inventory of your own screen time. Evaluate how often you hang out in front of the TV. Are you checking texts round the clock, including when your kids are trying to talk to you? Is your laptop propped on the kitchen island 24/7 so it pulls you away even during mealtimes? (Guilty as charged!)

If you're conscious of your screen habits, you'll be able to make adjustments and set an excellent example...

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