Managing Screen Time

Tools and strategies to help your family develop healthy screen habits

Screen Time Calculator

Enter your child's current screen time to see how it compares to recommended guidelines and Oregon/National averages.

hrs/day

How Screen Time Shapes Well-Being

Below are the three big ways screen habits can help or hurt growing minds—plus a quick takeaway for families.

Mental Health Impact

  • Dose matters: Every extra leisure hour above 2 hrs/day raises depression risk 13–20 %.12
  • Sleep & mood loop: Evening screens suppress melatonin and predict next-day irritability.45
  • Quick wins: One week of 30-min cuts dropped stress and sadness in families.67

Take-away: Emphasize quality over quotas: encourage purposeful screen use during the day, and build a tech-free wind-down before bed.

School Performance

  • Grades slip: Exceeding the AAP’s 2-hour leisure limit was tied to lower GPAs and less homework in a 2024 survey of 220 middle-schoolers.8
  • Bedroom screens hurt scores: A TV or game console in the bedroom predicted a 7–8-point drop on math / reading tests, regardless of family income.9
  • Phone-free classes boost focus: Districts that restrict smartphones report better on-task behavior and higher test scores—fueling 2025 bans in Virginia and Los Angeles.1011

Take-away: Keep study zones device-light and save entertainment screens for after the work is done.

Positive Uses

  • Game-style learning boosts results: A three-year study showed gamified math apps beat traditional homework on both test scores and engagement.12
  • Creativity & connection flourish: In Pew’s 2025 teen survey, 74 % of teens said social media keeps them connected, and 63 % said it unlocks creative outlets they can’t access offline.13
  • Inclusive, hands-on instruction: Teacher-guided one-to-one laptop instruction lifts reading and math scores, while focused online communities give marginalized youth supportive peer networks.1516

Take-away: Steer students toward active screen time—creating, exploring, collaborating—and set clear limits on passive scrolling.

Create a Family Media Plan

Work together as a family to establish healthy digital boundaries that work for everyone.

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Family Name / Plan Title

Purpose: Personalize your plan with a family name.

Sleep & Screens

Protecting Sleep Quality

Blue-light from phones, tablets and TVs can suppress melatonin by ≈ 50 % after just 60 min of evening use, shifting the body-clock later and cutting next-day alertness17.

Recommended Guidelines:

  • Digital curfew
    Ages 6–12: screens off ≥ 45 min;  Ages 13–18: ≥ 60 min before lights-out18 19
  • Bedroom = No-screen zone
    Charge all devices outside the room to avoid “quick checks” that fragment sleep20 21
  • Turn on blue-light filters
    Schedule Night Shift (iOS), Night Light (Android) or f.lux (computers) from sunset → sunrise22
  • Hit the sleep-hour targets
    6–12 yrs: 9–12 h  |  13–18 yrs: 8–10 h per night23
  • Dim & quiet
    Wind down under warm light the last 2 h; keep the bedroom < 1 lux blue-weighted light and < 30 dB ambient noise24 25

Sleep-Friendly Alternatives:

  • Bedtime paperback or comic
  • Guided audio meditation / sleepy-time podcast (screen facedown)
  • 2-minute neck/shoulder stretch + 5-5-5 breathing
  • Family “high/low” check-in while phones charge elsewhere
  • 5-minute gratitude journal or doodle page

Tip: Post the household curfew time on the fridge and set an automatic “Wind-Down” reminder on devices so everyone gets a gentle cue to unplug.

Screen Time Monitoring Tools

iOS Screen Time

iOS 17 Screen Time Monitoring

  1. Check today’s usage chart. Open Settings › Screen Time; the bar chart shows total pickups, most-used apps, and minutes spent today.
  2. Turn on weekly activity reports. In Screen Time scroll down and toggle Share Across Devices (if you have multiple Apple devices) and ensure Screen Time Weekly Report notifications are enabled so you get a summary every Sunday evening.
  3. Set quick App Limits. Tap App Limits › Add Limit, pick a category or individual app, then choose a daily allowance (e.g., 30 m). When the limit is reached, the app grays out until midnight unless you enter the Screen Time passcode.
Official Apple Guide

Android Digital Wellbeing

Android 13/14 Digital Wellbeing

  1. Open the Digital Wellbeing dashboard. On the child phone go to Settings › Digital Wellbeing & Parental controls. The pie chart shows today’s total screen-time and most-used apps.
  2. Set a daily device-usage goal. Tap the Screen time graph, then choose Daily device usage goal (Android 14) or enable Screen time goal (Android 13) to pick hours/minutes allowed.
  3. Add app timers. In the dashboard tap an app name (or the hourglass icon) → App timer, set a daily limit (e.g., 30 m). When time’s up the app pauses until the next day.
Official Google Guide