Encourage your child to step away from the screen regularly to stretch, move around, rest their eyes and enjoy other pastimes. Getting into the habit of doing these at natural pause points, such as at the end of an episode or after a level (may make your family look crazy but…) can be an effective way to take breaks.

Find ways that screens can be enjoyed together or ways to avoid the endless doomscroll. We’ve compiled an A-Z checklist of potential ideas below!

Replacing screen time with the offer of something more exciting can help fill the time with other activities. See our ideas below for younger and older children.

Co-view or supervise screen time, especially for young children. For older children, encourage talking openly about what they’re watching, asking questions, and connecting it to real life. Not only does this bring a point of connection, it helps young people to know that they can come to you if they see something worrying online.

Simple, consistent boundaries work best e.g. – no screens in bedrooms, in the hour before bed, or at the table and phones charge overnight in the living room (you may need to invest in more bedtime stories and alarm clocks!).

If you said 15 more minutes, stick to it. It might help to have a visual timer to show that you’re not cheating them out of precious seconds. Alternatively, recognise that sometimes, an agreement to “one more episode” or “until I finish this level” might be a kinder and fairer boundary than a timer.

Choose quality, age-appropriate content over fast, chaotic “brain rot” – steering clear of frantic, attention-grabbing videos. Check out our Safety Centre for guidance on parental controls, content filters and account set-ups to minimise the risk of young people stumbling across or seeking out harmful content.

Apple Screen Time and Google Family Link let you cap daily use per app, schedule downtime and approve new downloads. Set them up with your child rather than behind their back; they’re more likely to stick to limits they helped choose.

Encourage switching to greyscale (which turns your device to black and white), minimising notifications, auditing followers, using Do Not Disturb or Focus mode, deleting unused apps and hiding the tempting ones off the home screen. Small changes can make a device easier to put down.

Often, if adults are glued to their phones or spending hours on a game every evening, that’s the norm young people will copy. Being a good role model and following your house rules too sets a powerful example.

For gifts, think of non-screen activities you could encourage so they’re not always getting the latest game. Consider other hobbies they may enjoy like sports equipment, board games, books, toys, roller skates, a bike or art supplies.

Sometimes, children and young people may want to see their friends rather than sit at home on their device, but practicalities get in the way. It may be helpful to facilitate the plans they want to make with their friends by offering to drive or host.