5 Ways to Healthier Screen Time
If one of your goals this year is managing better screen time for your kids, you’re not alone. Here are 5 smart (and easy!) ways to kickstart healthier habits for the whole family!
Schedule screen time
Use Noggin’s tech tracker or a calendar to help regulate your child’s digital use. Kids thrive from knowing what to expect and enjoy having some control in their schedule. Keeping track of their screen time makes it more predictable for them. Bonus: It’s also less likely that they’ll negotiate for more time than what’s scheduled!
Noggin tip: Add a Noggin character to the calendar on each of the days your child is allowed screen time so that they can look forward to it. When they’ve completed their screen time, let them add a check mark for the day!
Preview content
Quality always matters. Screen content ahead of time so that you are always aware of what your child is watching. Talking about what they watched or played is also a great way to share in their interests or help to extend any on-screen learning off-screen.
Noggin tip: Explore our Activities page for lots of off-screen learning and play!
Make screen time family time
Kids learn more by watching or playing with you. You can help them make sense of what they’re seeing and how to relate it to the world around them. Sharing screen time with your child can also clue you in to what content and characters they like, as well as what skills they’re practicing.
Noggin tip: Check out the Family Watch Party section in the Noggin app.
Avoid ads
Try to keep kids away from content with lots of advertisements or platforms and video-sharing sites that could lead them into inappropriate content. Don’t forget to use any available parental controls to keep your children focused on kid-safe content that they will learn from and enjoy.
Noggin tip: Use platforms or apps that are always ad-free and kid-safe, like Noggin!
Lead by example
Your kids watch you closely, and that includes your own screen-time habits, too! Setting up household rules benefits the whole family, like not allowing phones or other devices during mealtime or only having the TV on when it is actively being watched. As Dr. Michael Rich, Director of the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, reminds us, “Screens are not inherently toxic — it’s what we do with them…Don’t put the energy into guilt that you can put into having some fun with your kids.”
Noggin tip: Tech use for young kids doesn’t only have to mean screen time. Learn more by reading 3 Misconceptions About Tech Use with Young Kids.
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Kid-safe & ad-free
New content added weekly
Accessible on multiple devices
Downloadable books & games for offline play