I know often kids feel like we adults have double standards. We say one thing, but we don’t do it. We set rules for kids but don’t have rules for ourselves. In our morning drive, for example, my kids and I often notice adults texting while on the road to school or near a school. At restaurants, we see lots adults on their devices during dinner, not just the kids. I can be guilty of breaking my own rules, checking a screen to distract myself from a task I’m having a hard time completing, or staying up much later than I meant to, checking “just one more thing.”
How do you see me interacting with my screens?
Do you think I have rules for myself about my own screen use (like about when or how much I think it’s okay to do screen-based activities)?
Should I make guidelines for myself?
Should guidelines for parents be the same or different as guidelines for the kids?
Do you think adults spend more time on screens than you or less than you?
How do you feel about how I use my mobile devices — when, how much, and why?
Photo by Design Pics/Design Pics / Getty Images
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
As we’re about to celebrate 10 years of Screenagers, we want to hear what’s been most helpful and what you’d like to see next.
Please click here to share your thoughts with us in our community survey. It only takes 5–10 minutes, and everyone who completes it will be entered to win one of five $50 Amazon vouchers.
I know often kids feel like we adults have double standards. We say one thing, but we don’t do it. We set rules for kids but don’t have rules for ourselves. In our morning drive, for example, my kids and I often notice adults texting while on the road to school or near a school. At restaurants, we see lots adults on their devices during dinner, not just the kids. I can be guilty of breaking my own rules, checking a screen to distract myself from a task I’m having a hard time completing, or staying up much later than I meant to, checking “just one more thing.”
How do you see me interacting with my screens?
Do you think I have rules for myself about my own screen use (like about when or how much I think it’s okay to do screen-based activities)?
Should I make guidelines for myself?
Should guidelines for parents be the same or different as guidelines for the kids?
Do you think adults spend more time on screens than you or less than you?
How do you feel about how I use my mobile devices — when, how much, and why?
Photo by Design Pics/Design Pics / Getty Images
Sign up here to receive the weekly Tech Talk Tuesdays newsletter from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD.
We respect your privacy.
I know often kids feel like we adults have double standards. We say one thing, but we don’t do it. We set rules for kids but don’t have rules for ourselves. In our morning drive, for example, my kids and I often notice adults texting while on the road to school or near a school. At restaurants, we see lots adults on their devices during dinner, not just the kids. I can be guilty of breaking my own rules, checking a screen to distract myself from a task I’m having a hard time completing, or staying up much later than I meant to, checking “just one more thing.”
How do you see me interacting with my screens?
Do you think I have rules for myself about my own screen use (like about when or how much I think it’s okay to do screen-based activities)?
Should I make guidelines for myself?
Should guidelines for parents be the same or different as guidelines for the kids?
Do you think adults spend more time on screens than you or less than you?
How do you feel about how I use my mobile devices — when, how much, and why?
Photo by Design Pics/Design Pics / Getty Images
Thoughtful family tech rules help protect kids’ wellbeing, learning, and sleep while strengthening connection at home. Using the fresh start of a new year, this post shares eight practical tech habits families can discuss and adapt together, including shared social media check-ins, screen time inventories, device-free meals, regular gaming breaks, and keeping phones out of bedrooms at night.
READ MORE >
Psychologist Jean Twenge explains how parental controls can support healthier tech use by protecting sleep, limiting late night device access, and reducing kids’ exposure to content they are not developmentally ready to handle. She discusses why third party parental control tools are often more effective and easier to use than built in options, while acknowledging that no system is perfect. Clear boundaries, combined with technology based limits, can reduce ongoing conflict and make screen time rules easier to enforce.
READ MORE >
for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
