Tools

Find the resources you need to establish healthy screen habits in your family

Select the tools that will help you plan how to mindfully use technology. We've curated some of the best books, websites, podcasts, and articles that will provide the information you need to make wise choices in how you manage screen time.

The 5 Core

Healthy Screen Habits

Feeling overwhelmed? Want to improve your relationships, protect your sleep, and keep your family safe from online dangers?


Here’s where to begin: The 5 Core Healthy Screen Habits.

We believe these essential practices will help combat some of the most problematic screen-use issues we see today. These 5 habits provide the biggest “bang for your buck” when it comes to parenting with technology.

INTRODUCING

Ask yourself 2 QUESTIONS, whenever you pick up your device:

  1. What's my purpose in using the device right now?
  2. How long will it take?

Ask: What's My Purpose?

Habit #1:

Habit #2:

The Grandma Rule

Remember the "Grandma Rule" when you're writing a DM (direct message), sending a picture, or posting anything online. If you wouldn't want Granny to see it, don't send it!

Put your phone away or set it to silent mode when you're working on important tasks or when you're with people. Stay connected to whoever you're with in person.

Phones Away or Silent

Habit #3:

Habit #4:

Decide on a time that you will turn your phone in for the night. Protect your sleep by charging your phone and other devices in the master bathroom instead of your bedroom.

Put Your Phone to Bed

Keep phones and other connected devices out of bedrooms and bathrooms. Tech stays in public spaces. Remember the 4 S's for safety!

Habit #5:

No Phones in Bedrooms

Get the 5 Core Healthy Screen Habits infographic sheet

Need a reminder?

Download The 5 Core Healthy Screen Habits infographic sheet and post it somewhere handy to help you remember them.

Use this form to sit down together and develop a Family Technology Plan that will guide the screen use and best practices in your home.

Get the Family Technology Plan now translated into Spanish!

Technology Tips

We've compiled some important tech tips to consider, including how to maintain digital well-being and how to protect healthy sleep.

Screen Limits for Children

Children need movement, sleep, and a variety of activities for healthy brain development. See what the research is saying about limiting screen use for children, including 5 things you can do today to create healthy screen habits for your young child.

Get the Screen Limits for Children now translated into Spanish!

Screen Limits for Grade K

The developing brains of kindergarteners need even more breaks from technology than do older kids. See what the research is saying about limiting screen use for children ages 6 and under, including 5 things you can do today to create healthy screen habits for your young child.

Get the Screen Limits for Kindergarteners now translated into Spanish!

All About Emotions

Emotional Literacy Printable

Understanding our own emotions is the first step to developing empathy for others-- a skill necessary for making good choices with people around us and on media. 

Download this "Emotions Conversation Starter" worksheet that you can print, cut out, and use to kick-start a discussion during family dinner time.
Download Here

Get new ideas for using tech wisely with

Teen Tips & Hacks

Check out the tech hacks that teens have discovered and shared with the Healthy Screen Habits community. Find more ideas on @healthyscreenhabits "Teen Tip Tuesdays." Leave a comment and share your own tips!

Feeling Meh?

Fill your heart! Download this worksheet for ideas on how to handle life's big emotions.

Fill your heart!
Download free worksheet
Parents' Resource: Help Your Child Handle Big Emotions

Parents: Click here for more information about helping your child handle big emotions

School's out. Time for tech-free

SUMMER

FUN

Need help keeping your kids from turning to screens all summer long?

We've got you covered! Try using this graphic organizer to help your child plan some tech-free activities and accomplish some goals. 


Download this free printable so your child can spend the summer focusing on: Outdoor Fun, Personal Development, Friendship Building, Reading, and Service Opportunities.

Summer Fun Graphic Organizer
Download printout here

Resources

Below is our collection of recommended articles, books, interviews, podcast episodes, tools, videos, and websites covering various topics of screen use and digital well-being.


Find resources organized by topics from A to Z on the Resources by Subject page.

Articles

 








Books

  • The Glass Between Us by Lisa & Jason Frost
  • Glow Kids by Nicholas Kardaras
  • Be the Parent, Please by Naomi Schaefer Riley

    • Interviews with Healthy Screen Habits Experts

    Healthy Screen Habits Interviews in the Media

    Click here to watch videos and listen to podcast interviews with our Healthy Screen Habits experts, Amy Adams, Hillary Wilkinson, Julianna Lorenzen, and Jeannie Ondelacy Sprague.

    Podcasts

    Tools (Recommended Organizations)



    • Deadly by Design (Center for Countering Digital Hate) – a new report finding that TikTok pushes harmful content promoting eating disorders and self-harm into young users’ feeds.



    • Is Your Explicit Content Out There? - (children under age 18) get help from NCMEC to take down & remove nudes or sexually-exploitive images or videos taken of you (step-by-step instructions for different apps and platforms)


    • Revenge Porn Helpline (UK only) - a UK service supporting adults (aged 18+) who are experiencing intimate image abuse, also known as, revenge porn.


    • Screen-Free Bingo - ideas for fun screen-free activities provided by Screen Free Week




    • The Social Media Playbook - conversation starters to teach your teen how to have a healthy approach to social media use provided by Screen Sanity


    • Stop Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse (StopNCII.org) - Adults over the age of 18. Are you worried someone might share your intimate images online? Has this already happened to you? You are not alone. Create a case.


    • Take It Down - for people who have images or videos of themselves nude, partially nude, or in sexually explicit situations taken when they were under the age of 18 that they believe have been or will be shared online

    Videos & Films to Watch

    Investigation: How TikTok's Algorithm Figures Out Your Deepest Desires | The Wall Street Journal
    More videos from Children & Screens

    Available for viewing through streaming services:

    "#KidsOnTech" - a documentary that "explores how we might both protect and prepare our children for a rapidly changing world where turning back the clock is not an option."


    "Coded Bias" - an Independent Lens documentary. Coded Bias exposes prejudices and threats to civil liberty in facial recognition algorithms and artificial intelligence.


    "LIKE the movie" - an original iNDIEFLIX documentary. LIKE explores the impact of social media on our lives and the effects of technology on the brain.

    Websites

     


    • Bad News online game: Play the fake news game and learn about misinformation vs. credibility
    • Better Screen Time: Worry less. Connect more.



    • Defend Young Minds: Kids CAN Learn to Reject Pornography. Start teaching today. We’ll show you how!





    • Kids Before Screens: Resources for parents, teachers, schools, & policymakers about internet safety & online addictions.





    • Screen Free Week: The annual "take a break from screens" week (first week in May)
    • Screen Sanity: (Formerly We.Start.Now) - Creating a world where kids are captivated by life, not screens
    • Screen Time Action Network  - working to reduce excessive technology use harming children, adolescents, and families
    • StopBullying.gov: Learn how to identify bullying and stand up to it safely



    Endorsed Products

    Find the products and *affiliate companies we have tried with our own families and recommend for helping you establish healthy habits in your screen use.


    *Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning that (at no additional cost to you) Healthy Screen Habits earns a small commission, if you click through and make a purchase. This commission helps support our efforts to bring you the best information and resources to help you develop healthy screen habits.

    Gabb Wireless

    Safe Cell Phone Network for Kids

    "NO INTERNET. NO APPS. 

    Helps kids stay kids! Prevent the harmful effects of screen addiction."

    Click here for $10 off with the promo code: HSHabits

    Bark

    Parental Control Monitoring App

    "Bark's affordable, award-winning service proactively monitors text messages, YouTube, emails, and 24 different social networks for potential safety concerns, so busy parents can save time and gain peace of mind."

    Click here to use the code HSHabits10 for 10% off

    Google Family Link App

    Help your family create healthy digital habits

    "Whether your children are younger or in their teens, the Family Link app lets you set digital ground rules to help guide them as they learn, play, and explore online."

    Get the app here

    Pinwheel

    Your search for a healthy kids phone is over!

    Your search for a kids cell phone is over! The Pinwheel Phone is the perfect first phone for kids that teaches responsible technology use. Foster a healthy relationship with phones through a tool designed just for them.

    Get 10% off with HSHabits

    Gryphon

    FINALLY... YOUR FAMILY CAN WEB WITHOUT WORRY®

    Mesh WiFi Security Router & Parental Control System

    Get 10% Off with HSHabits

    Creating a Tech-Healthy Family: an Online Course from Better Screen Time

    You Are Your Child’s Best Teacher.

    Enroll in Better Screen Time's "Creating a Tech-Healthy Family." A family-tested, research-backed formula for overwhelmed parents who want to end screen-time battles and keep their family grounded in a tech-saturated world. 

    Register for the course here

    HSH Amazon Marketplace

    Find *products we love that will help you create healthy screen habits in your home.

    Check out our storefront on Amazon

    See how you can take action to make a difference

    Now that you've researched the information and developed awareness about the issues surrounding the over-use of screens, find out more about what you can do to educate others. Join us in the cause to help families develop healthy screen habits!
    Click here to take ACTION
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