How The Verge and our readers manage kids’ screen time

this week Pew Research Center Published a study on how parents manage Screen time For their children 12 and under. The results weren’t particularly surprising (or helpful, if we’re being honest). 90% of parents said their children watch TV, and 61% said their children interact with smartphones at least sometimes. Somewhat surprisingly, only 50 percent said they were allowed to play a console of some sort. While 42% of respondents said they could manage their children’s screen time better, 86% said they had rules around screens, even if they didn’t always stick to them.

But what you won’t find in the Pew study is what those rules are. Just because a certain percentage of parents allow their children to watch TV “never” does not tell us useful information such as how long they watch, what they watch, or how parents make sure they don’t watch anything inappropriate.

My eight-year-old and I have implemented a kind of barter system that I borrowed from Greg McKeown, author of Intrinsicity. They start each week with 10 tokens, worth a total of $5 or five hours of screen time. They can earn more time or money by reading. How they use that time is largely up to them, as they can play Minecraft or watch shows on their kids’ Disney+, Netflix, or Paramount+ accounts. They also have access to a few music making apps and games on their iPads. But we don’t allow them unrestricted access to the iPad.

Lest you think I’m controlling my kids’ screen time with an iron first, my youngest gets an hour of (mostly educational) TV a day, just so we can help the older ones with their schoolwork in peace. Every Saturday we have family movie night, and we take turns choosing what to watch that week.

It also turns out that the amount of time kids spend in front of a screen isn’t the biggest concern. Time limits were common, but not universal.

This seems to be the biggest concern for parents, what kids do with their screen time. Social media was a major concern, with 80% of Pew survey respondents saying it did more harm than good. Somewhat shockingly, 15% said their children use TikTok, although use of other platforms such as Instagram and Facebook was less common, at just 5%. 74% said they watched YouTube with their children, while only 15% said their children did not watch YouTube at all.

In terms of time management tools, taking the device away, or pressing the power button, was the most common. Although some use Apple’s Screen Time tool to specifically limit iPad usage.

Telephones were not popular with younger children. The Pew survey found that only 29% of parents allowed their children between the ages of 8 and 10 to own a smartphone of their own. But once children reach adolescence, they become more common.

Remember, there is no right answer for how to raise your children. What works for one parent, may not work for another. We are all doing our best. Or in 58% of us think soaccording to the Pew Center.