This post contains affiliate links for Best Buy and review info for eyewear provided by phonetic eyewear, but as usual, all opinions are my own.
If you have a teen like we do, you know how much time and dialogue is involved in getting teens to reduce screen time. We have heated discussions and spend so much time trying to get my son to spend what I consider a healthy time away from screens.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re a connected family! We all love technology, so I feel it’s our job as parents to find ways to bring technology to unite not divide us. I came up with a few tips to reduce our teen screen time, which has been working successfully and I am going to share with you today:
How to reduce or shut down teen cell phone usage during vacations and family trips
Having my son with his face on the screen the whole time we’re on vacation made me pause and try to find a better way. So we use Cujo to pause or limit his phone usage while at home. No more nagging, he doesn’t even complain because he knows why his service no longer works.
How To reduce the impact of screen lights damaging rays on teen’s eyes
We love Phonetic Computer Eyewear! The whole family has protective glasses which prevent the effect of screen exposure to our eyes, protecting them. Phonetic Eyewear’s line of computer glasses alleviate digital eyestrain and are designed with your comfort and style in mind.
My son picked the frame he liked and uses them at night, after he does homework and is allowed on the computer, or on weekends. You can get them with a prescription or not!
It’s always good to be on the safer side when it comes to your children’s vision, which is why reducing screen time is so important. In any case, get your kid(s) checked regularly for any other eye issues (like myopia which is quite common nowadays). Using prescription Eyeglasses can be very helpful for vision correction, plus with the plethora of designs and colors available today, may even be fun too!
Replace Long Screen Hours With Family Time
Friday night or Saturday night is family game night, depending on his basketball schedule. We spend time playing a board game, which our son really enjoys. I also plan one activity every week, bringing him out of the house, out of the computer and having us spend time together, instead of online.
This past week we went tailgating with Best Buy! It was a job assignment, but he and hubby went through the exhibit, played the games, tried out the gadgets and entered the sweepstakes while I was working on my assignment and we went for a Philly Cheese-steak afterwards at our favorite place for the best cheese-steak in Philly: Tony Luke’s! He loved it!
Use Google Home trivia for teen fun time
We sometimes ask Google funny questions, curiosity, trivia, things we’re discussing during dinner time, which keeps him engaged with technology but it’s a fun way to have the whole family engaged with it, without being attached to a screen.
Using movie time as a way to bring your teen to spend time away from screen
We sometimes pick movies on demand or on special channels which we know will capture our teens interest and most times we don’t even have to invite him, he comes, checks it out and sits to watch it with us.
For example, we recently watched Jumanji in the movie theater, so I was telling my son about the first installment of the movie and he manifested interest in watching it. We watched it last weekend! He loved it as well!
You can check my review of the new Jumanji Movie, “Welcome to the Jungle” HERE.
Chores are a great way to give teens responsibility, while limiting their screen time
Yes, I do play the chores card! Absolutely! Every Saturday, as a family we share chores and clean the house, do laundry, cat’s litter box and anything which hasn’t been taken care of during the week.
My son’s chores are vacuum the first floor, make sure all his clothes are in the hamper, litter box, empty all trashcans and take trash cans once a week to the front of the house the night before trash day, as well as keeping his room clean and neat.
He knows he is expected to take care of it Saturday morning, so it’s like a routine, we don’t even have to ask. He sees my husband and I taking care of ours, so it’s not even a question of “why am I doing this on a weekend”?
Activities that will make your teen want to leave screen time
If you create a basement entertainment zone (find basement remodeling Roanoke companies to assist you), and fill it with games or equipment that encourage physical activities, your teens are likely to be engaged and their screen time may decrease. Investing in or sharing an e-reader, gym membership, or music gift cards will also give your teen options to spend their time doing something other than staying in front of a screen. On weekends, you can take kids out for some fun activities like bowling, paintball, etc. Or, if you live near London, you can check out recreational activities like a Lifesized Monopoly In London, a group game with puzzles, challenges, and competitions between different teams. At home, having friends over is another option! He very rarely stays on his computer when he has friends over. They either go outside to play or play games on XBOX while interacting with each other!
Trust me, we are far from perfect and using technology to enhance our lives, not pull us apart is a daily effort. But if you set some ground rules and expectations, your teen will offer less resistance, making family time a fun time, not another reason to fight!
I can’t wait to hear your tips to limit teens screen time! As usual, give us a Trendy Shout!
So important to limit your child’s online presence. Keep your kids busy by doing outside play and other ideas to keep them busy.
It is so important to give your child a whole other world out there than behind the screen. There are beautiful and wonderful things out there they will miss otherwise. I like all of your tips here although a little unsure of the TV one. As long as it’s family and interactive I think it’s a positive. Although I do understand how getting teens to do anything as a family can be a bit of a struggle.
You are a great mother, I’m going to take some of your parenting lessons and save them for myself as my kids grow! Loved this post and the photos along with it!
I love these tips. I am always finding reasons and ways to get my 15 year old off her phone. She’s on it day and night. Personally, chores and a chat about “current events” seem to work
These tips really work. I get so worried with them always buried in a screen.
I love the limits you have in place. I think it is important to encourage children to contribute to the running of the home by doing chores and earning their screen time.
My kids are 16 and 19 and they are on their electronic devices quite a bit. These are some great tips to control that.
What an excellent idea. My daughter is not yet a teen and I am trying to reduce her screen time before then. Thank you for the tips.
Thankfully we really do not have screen time issues in our home. Great tips and suggestions. I will remember them if I ever need to use them in the future.
Wonderful! My kids are grown and they are all aware of responsible internet usage. I will let my sister know about Cujo. I know this will make raising teenager for her a whole lot better.
Chores and family time are brilliant distractions. I also love movie time too.
These are great ideas for me to use with my 15 year old gaming son! I am totally going to look into the Phonetic Eyewear.
Great tips – I could put these to use myself..!
I always find it amusing when I see kids watching so much TV and phone. Why can’t their parents let them play outside?
These are such great ideas for reducing screen time for teens. Jumanji is a great movie I remember watching it as a kid.
I feel so out of the loop because I had no idea that there was an app with the power to do this! We just got my son an ipod and I need to download this asap! And the glasses sound fantastic, too – so many innovative things!
I had no clue you could pause the internet. That is fantastic. I’d love to try out the glasses.
I’ve always wondered how the pause internet works with teens. Most teens have cell phones and then just start using up their cell data. I wonder if there is a way to block the data!
First of all I loved Jumanji and I was a kid in the 90s who saw the 1st one and I was impressed with the remake! Also this is good info my niece who is 9 has been getting distracted with too much screen time on tablets and phones so we are teaching her to do more arts and crafts.
My teen sister is always busy with her phone or iPad unless being told to do some chores. But it usually takes a lot of time for her to finally do the task. So yeah, they do need a limit.
Screen time with teens can be such a struggle. I like the look of the Cujo service – being able to assign limits to more than just phones or tablets sounds great.
We have been trying to reduce our children’s screen time. One of the worst things I did was get my kids tablets.
This is becoming a bigger issue for our family. I like these ideas. Hopefully it helps
These are such great ideas and with a 12 and 16 year old, I can definitely put them to good use!
Finding limits for teens is always such a challenge! I like the idea of family game time or movie time to get the focus off of technology. It’s just redirecting them to another activity instead of fighting them off of the screen time.
These sound like some great tips. I have to admit I don’t have kids myself but I could probably do with reducing my own screen time sometimes. I think with being a blogger I spend way to much time in front of the screen.
This is a big challenge. I find my son’s classes often require being on a screen too (seems counter productive). I think if there is something MORE fun to do than being on a screen, it’s easier to get them off of them.
We have rules when it comes to using computers, phones and pads. Dinner time is definitely one of those times, even for my wife and me.
Phonetic Computer Eyewear sounds like a very important thing to have to diminish the strain of looking at computer screens for too long. I like that they can be prescription specific.
Yep, it’s all about family time. We try to do family game nights as often as possible. We also have a no-device rule during dinner!
I have trouble limiting my own screen time. I bet it’s even harder for parents of teens!
Great suggestions! Teens seem to live on devices these days and setting limits is key. We all make it a point to unplug during dinner time and it helps us to reconnect after a long day.
You seem to be handling your son and his chores a lot better than we do. Your son does so much! Our kids are always on their Ipads and do a few chores. The limits you have are so smart and I think the kids win from that.