How much screen time at home?

[Rodion15]

How much screen time do you allow your teems at home? I mean for gaming.

I'd like to hear opinions. I find it so difficult to encourage my twins (16yo) to read or do something constructive. No matter how much I tell them of the wonderful books I read.

[Hannah-RO]

Hey @Rodion15 

This is a great question! Screen time is something we talk about quite a bit on the forums, I'll pop a link just here to where you can find other threads on this if you want to check out what some other parents have said

Every family is different so it's hard to give an exact amount of time that will work best for you but we  have a content piece around managing screen time which suggests some tips around doing a bit of a screen time audit and setting rules, is this something that could work for you?

It also suggests engaging in other activities together where screens aren't involved, are there things you enjoy doing as a family? Like going for a walk together or playing a board game?

[Thisisnew]

This is such a big issue at our place. We're trying to pull our 14yo son back from his level of usage. While we subscribe to the concept of 2 hours a day, not during school week, not in the bedroom etc that is nothing like what we have drifted into.

We find that any long period of use can be followed by yelling, bad language, doors slamming - and often an apology.

He has improved of late and gives up his devices and phone by 8pm and will read or do puzzles etc so I'm grateful for that.

[Rodion15]

To be honest, this is something I’m not quite made up my mind about yet.  I think it’s important to instil in your offspring a minimal wish to improve themselves.  I have 16yo twins, she has a gift for art and is creative when off the screen.  He is not, he can spend all day long playing Fortnite if you don’t stop him. 

I’ve tried by all means to motivate them to read and learn stuff. I’ve watched and talked documentaries with them, talked them emotionally of the books I read, about politics, history etc.  What pushed me to read more? I think being bored pushed to me to do it, if you have computer games to play, there’s no boredom, so you don’t read, paint, do puzzles, play chess, or whatever.  To what extent is this idiotizing?

The question is: you cannot force them to do it, but at the same time, it doesn’t seem right to leave them on the screen all day.  There’s a lot of creative stuff you can do on a screen, but that’s not what he does.

Thanks for your answer. This is the kind of answer I like to hear, it’s easy to get condescending answers from people who are not even parents, and this is a bit delicate as you give out something of your personal life.