Want your family to spend less time on screens this summer? Here’s how to do it.

Photo above by Federico Giampieri on Unsplash.

For many families, mobile screens like smart phones and iPads have become constant companions. If you’re eager to make sure your kids don’t spend too much time staring at screens this summer (and you also don’t want to do too much of that yourself), the folks at MAMA (Mothers Against Media Addiction) have some great advice.

KDKA anchor and Kidsburgh producer Kristine Sorensen recently shared MAMA’s House Rules with the Kidsburgh team. It’s a great system to introduce with kids as the summer begins. 

Kids and parents can shift their screen use in healthy ways by practicing the behaviors you see listed below. Get the whole family on board and you will see a powerful difference in how you feel and how much you all communicate with one another. (And if you’re curious about local families building healthier relationships with technology and encouraging outdoor play, visit paunplugged.org.) 

Here’s how MAMA’s House Rules work. The folks at MAMA suggest going through the list below and noting which habits you’re already practicing. Over the coming days, you can add more of these habits until you have all of them in place. 

The Basics

• In the morning, we wait until after we’ve fully woken up, brushed our teeth, and eaten breakfast before we check our devices. (Adults will benefit from this as much as kids do!)
• In the evenings, we power down devices starting at 8pm for teens and 9pm for adults on weeknights. And we always store them in a designated place that’s not anyone’s bedroom. (Basic alarm clocks work great, instead of using a phone as an alarm clock.) 

Daily Habits

• We set daily screen time limits for all of our digital activities, and we stick to them.
• We enjoy the outdoors without devices for at least 30 minutes every day.
• When we talk to one another, we never check our phones mid-conversation. 

Family Meals

• We don’t invite devices to the dinner table.
• When we go out to eat, we color, play games or talk (and learn the value of boredom!) to pass the time instead of using screens.

Getting Serious

• We put devices away completely for 24 hours once a month.
• We don’t sign up for social media until high school.
• When we get any new device, we sit and create a family media agreement and we review it together whenever necessary.
• We never, ever put anything in a text or email that we wouldn’t want our grandparents to read or we wouldn’t want to see on the front page of a newspaper. 
• We use parental controls to select age-appropriate apps and identify “no-go” apps. 

To learn more about digitally detoxing and fighting the impact of digital brain fog, check out our podcast interview with MAMA co-chair and chapter leader Jess Elefante and learn about MAMA’s digital detox pledge. Also, check out this national effort to make schools phone-free.