Easy Ways for Parents to Manage Their Children’s Screen Time

Effective Ways to Manage Children’s Screen Time? – One of the biggest parenting issues of this decade is managing how children use technology, especially smartphones.

According to the website parliament.uk, there has been a 52% increase in cell phone use among children from 2020 to 2022. The same trend is evident in Indonesia. According to research by the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), over 71.3% of school-aged children already own gadgets and use them for extended periods.

However, excessive phone use can have detrimental effects. Children’s eyes may develop myopia and astigmatism, their physical activity levels may decrease, and they may be exposed to inappropriate adult content that is harmful to their development.

Limiting Children’s Screen Time with Family Link

Criticizing this issue, parents must inevitably take concrete steps to ensure their children do not use their cell phones excessively.

One way parents can do this is by utilizing a good application such as Family Link.

Family Link is essentially a free Google app that can help parents to:

1. Protecting children from apps containing adult content
2. Setting phone usage hours
3. Remotely turning off children’s phones

How to Manage Your Child’s Phone Time Using Family Link

Parents can download Family Link from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Once the download is complete, follow the tips below to manage your child’s cell phone usage.

1. Connecting Parents’ and Children’s Mobile Phones

First, connect the child’s and parent’s accounts by following these steps:

1. Download the Family Link app on both the parent’s and child’s phones.
2. Open the app on the parent’s device first.
3. Add an account for the child.
4. Follow the instructions to set up parental controls.
5. Confirm the parent-child relationship and link the two accounts.

2. How to Set the Phone Usage Time

To manage the length of time spent on mobile phones, here are instructions that parents can follow:

1. Open the Family Link app.
2. Select your child’s account.
3. Click on Controls.
4. Set a Daily Limit to determine how long your child can use their phone.
5. Decide when the phone usage rules apply (e.g., school days or holidays).

3. How to Turn Off and Lock Your Child’s Phone

Parents can also turn off their children’s cell phones in the following ways:

1. Open the app, select settings for children.
2. In the controls section, click Downtime.
3. Set the desired downtime (phone off) time.
4. Set when the downtime applies (e.g., only on Mondays or every day).

4. How to Manage School Time

It’s not without reason that Family Link is called a powerful app for limiting children’s screen time.

This app can also be used to help your little ones focus on their studies at school. Here’s how:

1. Open the app, select settings for children
2. In the controls section, click School Time
3. Set when School Time mode is active and inactive

5. Managing Application Usage

Next, to manage which apps your child can and cannot use, parents can follow these steps.

1. Open the Family Link app.
2. Select settings for your child, click controls, then App limits.
3. Select the app you want to set.
4. Set Allow (can be used) or Disallow (cannot be used).
5. Also set time limits for app usage.
6. For apps that are considered very bad, parents can select the block option.

Read Also : 7 Negative Effects of Children’s Gadget Addiction: Let’s Avoid Them!

6. Giving Bonus Time

Finally, for special days, parents can also give bonus time with the tips below.

1. Open the app, select settings for children.
2. In the controls section, click Give bonus time.
3. Set how long the bonus time will be and when it will take effect.

Conclusion: Effective Ways to Manage Children’s Screen Time?

Excessive cell phone use can have a negative impact on children. Children can experience eye problems and become unwilling to engage in physical activity. As parents, these issues must be anticipated early on.