Here’s How to Ensure Your Kids Don’t Spend the Entire Break Staring at Screens

There’s nothing wrong with some device time. Just use these tips to make sure your kids don’t overdo it.

Nir Eyal
Forge
Published in
7 min readDec 14, 2021

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Photo by Alireza Attari on Unsplash

It’s that time of year when kids have a long break from school and parents and guardians likely have some time off work.

What will we do with all that free time?

Parents may worry that extended free time means children and teens will automatically be glued to their devices all day — especially if they have to return to work before school is back in session.

When kids are on their own, can they be trusted to do something other than watch TV and movies, play video games, or engage in social media for hours on end?

The good news is that some screen time is fine. The moral panic blaming kids’ personal technology for all kinds of problems has likely been overblown.

An excellent new metastudy concludes, “screen media plays little role in mental health concerns.” In fact, moderate use of technology can have a small positive impact on mental well-being, according to a study by Dr. Andrew Przybylski.

But we certainly don’t want our children spending all of their precious time in the virtual world…

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Nir Eyal
Forge
Writer for

Posts may contain affiliate links to my two books, “Hooked” and “Indistractable.” Get my free 80-page guide to being Indistractable at: NirAndFar.com