eSafety Commissioner: How to manage Screen Time in your home

As the summer holidays approach, children may be requesting more and more screen time during the week. This can be hard to manage but the eSafety Commissioner website has a range of tips on how to help kids manage their online time and set boundaries.

You may wonder, how much is too much? The eSafety website suggests considering your child’s screen use in the context of their overall health and wellbeing. For example, is online time getting in the way of their sleep and exercise? Is it impacting on their face-to-face connections with family and friends? 

There are warning signs to look out for including less interest in social activities, meeting with friends or playing sport, appearing anxious or irritable when away from the computer, or obsessions with particular websites or games.

The eSafety website recommends creating a plan with your child. One example might involve creating a family plan for leisure and entertainment time that balances time spent sitting in front of screens — including time online and watching TV — and a variety of offline activities. As well as agreed age-based time limits, the plan could include rules about which websites can be visited and online games can be played. It could also include control of access to the internet or devices, perhaps with daily passwords revealed once family time, homework and chores are complete. 

You can also set specific boundaries: Your family plan could include rules like:

• no devices in the bedroom for younger children
• all screens off in bedrooms after a certain time for older children
• all screens off at least one hour before planned bedtime
• all family members switch off at dinner time
• devices charged overnight in a place your child cannot access

For more information, please click here.