How much time do your kids spend on tech?

babs001

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I have a couple of kids and I always monitor how much time they spend on their ipads, tablets, computers, mobiles, tv etc for health and social reasons. I just wandered if anyone could tell me how much time their kids spend on tech, and what is considered a reasonable amount of time? I know this is dependent on age, circumstance, whether it is for work/play/leisure etc, but generally I try to limit it to around 60 mins day max, unless we are on long jouneys or if homework means they need longer. I also find that with so much tech around I also have to remind my kids that books and talking together are still a great ways to socialise, learn and relax. What are your thoughts?? Thanks
 
Mine are 8 and 9 - Tablets 1 hour each per day. Use Kaspersky safe kids to lock them out. ha.
TV, well. I watch alot so can't really complain, just try to get them to watch BBC nature programmes as much as possible.
 
The problem is that small screens have replaced TVs for this generation of kids. I think that you have to think how much TV would you allow them to watch? Its also hard when you have teenagers as they blend their homework and social life onto PCs / Tablets / Phones so again not always possible to limit their screen time - especially as they now have over 3 hours of homework every night.
I think its down to you to assess what you think is healthy for YOUR kids in their circumstances and what they are doing with their screen time.
 
Age, supervision, and the individual child all come into it as well. As @mushii said, things are a bit different now. It is entirely normal for my 13-year-old to come home, do her homework, and have a multi-participant video chat open with her friends who are also doing that.

There is no live-tv watching habits, mainly YouTube. Then there are piano lessons which then morphed into music production and for that the laptop becomes an essential part. Not to mention keeping in touch with her audience, other DJ/Producers etc. And similar but in a different field for the other one.

I don't think there is a fixed answer to this, and as parents, we should recognise that the world has changed a bit and provides so many additional opportunities that when we were growing up didn't necessarily exist.
 
Just to add to this, i think rather than restricting screen time, encouraging non-screen time activities is probably a more positive approach. Denying kids anything that they want to do, just makes them want it more, that's kids. But to help them explore other activities is more beneficial (IMHO). I have always given my kids the opportunity to try anything (within reason) that they have wanted to do, have supported them in these activities and have never forced them to continue, if they no longer wish to pursue them. As it is my 15 year old daughter figure skates, does ballroom dancing, plays the flute, attends a monthly gaming (non electronic) gaming club and goes to youth club on a Friday night. My 16 year old learned Japanese on her own (she took her GCSE a year early, has just finished her DofE Bronze, runs a Japanese club at school and is a keen artist (who has exhibited locally) and she likes baking. All of these things we support because it lets them find out who they are, what they enjoy and lets them develop. They also play games on their laptops, PS4, their phones, but we have never restricted their screen time, we just encouraged them to explore other activities.
My 16 year suffers with anxiety, so crowded places and large group activities are uncomfortable for her. Letting my children choose what activities suited their personalities was important and letting them stop was important too, but we always discussed why they wanted to stop, without chastisement or forcing them to continue.
Too many parents try and live vicariously through their children, making them continue with music lessons etc only for their kids to grow up detesting those instruments and losing all of the pleasure that they should have gained.
 
In all honesty, as long as they want. My 8 year old son scored 100% on every one of his SAT‘s and is comfortably the best reader in his class. He goes through a David Walliams book in a couple of days max, and has a massive shelf of books he’s read. He does sports club and a performing arts club at school too. While ever he’s doing all that, then he can do whatever else he likes. As others have pointed out, kids these days aren’t glued to the TV, things are different.

He came downstairs yesterday to tell me he heard some swearing in a YouTube video he was watching (some Minecraft channel), so I’m happy that he’s responsible enough to not be constantly monitored. He knows the score regarding online games, he only plays with a couple of his real life friends, and chat is always turned off.
 
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Absolutely loads, especially watching TV (Disney cartoons and YouTube, mainly).

They're both thick as s**t.
 
Just like their Dad then :)
 
This is great to see what other parents think and do with their own when we need a little guidance.

I have a 9 year old who pretty much goes between his tablet and his xbox all day but does sometimes get bored of it which is great! His 4 year old sister however on her samsung tablet has the kids app which I can monitor her time on and her apps stop after so long but she's clever enough to now ask her brother for the pin and knows not to start on that particular kids app. YouTube has taken over on rainy days.
 
My son (12) spend a lot of time on tech, particularly since lockdown. I do worry about it, but then I'm pretty sure I spent hours playing elite, then populous when I was a kid and I think I turned out ok. Mainly I worry that he is actually interacting rather than passively watching YouTube. He spends a lot of time working on Minecraft mods, which I tell myself is creative!
 
3 and 5 year old both on their ipads for hours, both do play actively throughout the day too. Try to get a nice 50/50 balance between tech and actually playing.
 
My son has never shown any interest in playing with toys and had very little interest in watching TV, tech was the only thing that ever floated his boat, He used to play around on an old laptop when he was a toddler, I bought him educational cd roms too which he used. By the time he was 5 he was teaching me techy stuff. As long as he had time outside in the fresh air every day and went to bed at a reasonable hour, I never limited his time on tech. He's 19 now and runs his own business fixing tech, he's completely self taught too so kinda glad I let him do what made him happy as a child, He found his calling in life before he could even talk :)
 

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