I Turned on Apple’s Screen Time for the Kids and Myself…A Lot of Unexpected Things Happened.

We have two kids, currently 6 and 9, who of course would happily stare at an iPad for every waking moment if given the opportunity. Until about two years ago we didn’t really regulate their time on electronics but started to notice a relationship between how much time they spend staring at a screen and their mood and attitude.

More screen time made them more impatient with us and argumentative when we asked for simple things like cleaning up.

That realization lead to a change: they would get one hour of electronic time per day and only after their chores were done.

At the time we would make a mental note of the time and would do our best to monitor their usage. Despite our best intentions, there were two common outcomes:

• They would disappear into their rooms, we’d get busy and realize they went way over on time.
• Getting the iPad away was a hostage negotiation or argument that put all of us in a bad mood.

It was exhausting. This year was even worse with the kids stuck at home and me trying to get work from home and run my business.

Enter Screen Time

I knew Apple’s Screen Time existed but never took the time to set it up since we were technically doing the same thing, right?

After watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix I realized it was time to take more action on regulating my kid’s access to apps and electronics. I setup Family Sharing and Screen Time so we could approve any app downloads, block websites and of course regulate screen time.

This took some time to get everything setup but had several unexpected benefits which inspired me to write this article.

I don’t have to consciously monitor their usage.

As parents in 2020, we have a ton going on in our minds and it is impossible to stay on top of it all. This makes it much easier to regulate their time.

No more arguments!

This has been amazing. Mean mom or dad are no longer ripping them away from their addiction. From time to time they’ll request more time for a game or to finish a show and I can approve or deny it from any of my Apple devices. If I need just a bit more quiet time I’ll give them 15 minutes but other times I will deny it and expect them to run to me to complain but they just shrug their shoulders and put the iPad down. We haven’t had one argument since, amazing!

They don’t crave electronics.

They get their time and that seems to be enough for them now. They play together or outside much more often than before.

Wait, could this work on me?

After seeing their attitude towards electronics change I figured I would try to set up limits for myself and see what happens. I had to be realistic: I am an app developer that works on my own app business as well as for freelancing for clients so staring at a screen for 8–10 hours a day is just going to happen no matter what, it pays the bills.

I decided to limit all of my social media and news apps to 30 minutes per day but left other apps that inspire me like Medium with unlimited time. There were different benefits for me as an adult:

No More Mindless Scrolling

It stopped my endless scrolling and constantly picking up my phone to check social media or the news. Can I override Screen Time and give myself more time? Yep and I do it often but the time limit interrupts me and I have to make a conscience decision to keep going. Could I be doing something more productive right now? Sometimes the answer is yes and other times it’s the end of the day and I have nothing to do but mindless scrolling before bed.

Increased Productivity

This is an obvious no brained in retrospect but I am indeed much more productive now that I am batching my social media usage. I know I only get a limited amount of time so I want to use it when I need a break, not when I am working on a project and get distracted.

I am happier

This probably isn’t a surprise either but I’ve certainly noticed the less time I spend on social media the happier I am. Social Media is certainly powerful in both good and bad ways and I’ve learned to use it sparingly.

If you’ve realized that you need to “disconnect” or better manage your time I would highly recommend enabling Apple’s Screen Time or Google’s Digital Wellbeing to help you in that journey.

For most people I don’t see a need to be strict on yourself but anything that helps you increase awareness of your social media and electronics usage will help you.

Do it now! What’s the worst that could happen?