Those of us who are parents or are supervising a younger work force can be frustrated with all the issues resulting from trying to manage how much time our kids or our employees are on their cell phones. The downsides are big – social isolation, repercussions from not creating – just scrolling, and content that is often not true, really gross, and angry and mean. A big problem is that a lot of it is wildly entertaining. Sign up for TikTok, list some things you are interested in and within minutes the platform is sending you endless fascinating videos that you just lay on a couch and scroll through for hours. This is probably not good for any of us but particularly kids – it’s too passive and solitary and after a couple of hours it’s disorienting and even depressing.
So I was intrigued today when I saw an article in The New York Times from their Wirecutter section on the top 3 best apps parents can get to control their our kids’ screen time. Unfortunately she didn’t have any tips for how to keep our employees from using their phones all day when they are supposed to be working.
Ellen recommends the following apps: Apple Screen Time: for iOS phones: allows you to set daily limits Google Family Link: for Androids(households with kids under 13: parents can set limits on daily phone use, plus schedule their kid’s phone to be disabled at bedtime. But kids age out when they turn 13 Custodio: for Android households with kids over 13 The premium version of this app allows you to set time limits and multiple schedules, block calls, and view text messages and web searches. Cost is $55
The Wirecutter folks also remind us that TikTok, YouTube, and other apps are designed to be addictive so it’s good to look for apps that control that. Also start checking how much time your kids are spending on social media and gaming and if needed start putting on limits.
Also this New York Times Wirecutter platform is awesome – like a Consumer Reports on steroids. I rarely buy anything anymore without checking it out on Wirecutter first. Click HERE.
Those of us who are parents or are supervising a younger work force can be frustrated with all the issues resulting from trying to manage how much time our kids or our employees are on their cell phones. The downsides are big – social isolation, repercussions from not creating – just scrolling, and content that is often not true, really gross, and angry and mean. A big problem is that a lot of it is wildly entertaining. Sign up for TikTok, list some things you are interested in and within minutes the platform is sending you endless fascinating videos that you just lay on a couch and scroll through for hours. This is probably not good for any of us but particularly kids – it’s too passive and solitary and after a couple of hours it’s disorienting and even depressing.
So I was intrigued today when I saw an article in The New York Times from their Wirecutter section on the top 3 best apps parents can get to control their our kids’ screen time. Unfortunately she didn’t have any tips for how to keep our employees from using their phones all day when they are supposed to be working.
You can read the article by Ellen Lee HERE:
Ellen recommends the following apps:
Apple Screen Time: for iOS phones: allows you to set daily limits
Google Family Link: for Androids (households with kids under 13: parents can set limits on daily phone use, plus schedule their kid’s phone to be disabled at bedtime. But kids age out when they turn 13
Custodio: for Android households with kids over 13 The premium version of this app allows you to set time limits and multiple schedules, block calls, and view text messages and web searches. Cost is $55
The Wirecutter folks also remind us that TikTok, YouTube, and other apps are designed to be addictive so it’s good to look for apps that control that. Also start checking how much time your kids are spending on social media and gaming and if needed start putting on limits.