Everybodys Free to Reduce Some Screen

Ladies and gentlemen, and the grown-ups of 2025: Reduce passive screen time.

If I could offer you only one bit of advice for the future, reducing the time your kids spend on passive screens would be it. The long-term benefits of this have been proven by scientists... whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering, often-interrupted experience.

I will dispense this advice now.

Accept that not all screen time is equal. A passive, endless, auto-playing feed is just a time-thief. An app with building might be creative, A video-chat with grandparents or friends... that's connection. Don't confuse the two.

Learn to love the phrase, "I'm bored". It is not a crisis you must solve. It is not a personal failure. It is the sound of a little person's brain clearing its cache, making space for an original thought. Do not immediately fill this space. Let them sit in it for a few minutes. It will be painful, mostly for you. They will survive. What comes after may be imagination.   

Reframe the “enemy.” Your child is not the enemy. The app, with its endless scroll and manipulative design, is. Team up with your child to outsmart the algorithm. Share your own struggles with your phone; it’s the most powerful way to show you’re on their side.

Build a fort from sofa cushions and old sheets. Teach them Go Fish, Snap, or Chess. Read a book out loud, even if they're old enough to read it themselves. Ask them to tell you a story using only three items from the kitchen: a spoon, a half-eaten apple, and a paper towel. Chalk your walk. Paint pet rocks and hide them for others to find.  You'd be surprised what they find entertaining with you there.

Create a Family Media Plan together. Do not impose it from on high. Negotiate it. Write it down. Put it on the fridge. And then, and this is the hard part, follow it yourself. Your children are watching you for cues on how to live.

Create screen-free zones, especially the dinner table and the bedroom. Let their brains disconnect. Let them sleep. Their focus in school tomorrow depends on it.

When it's time to get off a video game, do not yell from the other room. Go to them. Interact. Give a five-minute warning, then make a personal invitation: "Time's up. Come help me make a snack". A connection is harder to resist than a command.

Know that unstructured play is as important as homework. It is not a "break from learning"; it is the learning.

But also know, you will think you failed at all of this. You will hand over the tablet because you just need 20 minutes of silence to make dinner. This is not a failure. It is a Tuesday. This is a long game. Be kind to yourself.

But trust me on the passive screen time.