Parents: Click here for more information about helping your child handle big emotions
Tools
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
- Be Tech Wise With Baby by Children's Screen Time Action Network & American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
- Be Tech Wise With Toddler! by Children's Screen Time Action Network & American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
- Fast Facts About Pornography by Fight the New Drug
- Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? by Jean M. Twenge
- How TikTok Live Became ‘A Strip Club Filled With 15-Year-Olds’ by Alexandra S. Levine
- Kids Are Watching Pornography. Here’s How to Talk About It. by Shafia Zaloom
- Let's Talk About Texting by Wait Until 8th
- Master List of Privacy Settings for Everything by Protect Young Eyes
- My daughter was a creative genius, then we bought her an iPhone by Stephanie Gruner Buckley
- Roblox: The children's game with a sex problem by James Clayton & Jasmin Dyer
- Something Weird is Happening on Facebook by Chris Ladd
- Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us to Use Our iPhones Like This by Cal Newport
- Surgeon General says 13 is ‘too early’ to join social media by Allison Gordon and Pamela Brown | CNN
- The Dangers of Distracted Parenting by Erika Christakis
- The Ledger of Harms by Center for Humane Technology
- The Tech Industry’s War on Kids by Richard Freed
- Why American Teens Are So Sad by Derek Thompson
Books
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Interviews with Healthy Screen Habits Experts
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
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Tools (Recommended Organizations)
- Be Tech Wise with Preschoolers - Creating a Health Technology Environment for Your Preschooler (free printable)
- Cyberbullying Fact Sheet: Identification, Prevention, and Response - a free printable from the Cyberbullying Research Center
- 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.
- Digital Wellness Bingo - ideas for using technology for good provided by Digital Wellness Day
- 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
- Safe, Secure, & Smart Apps - a guide to choosing tech for your pre-schooler provided by Fairplay
- Social Media Test Drive (online learning modules) - Help youth navigate the digital world
- 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
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
- Ai heeelp!: Info for AI and Deepfake victims
- Alexander Neville Foundation - Educating about the dangers of fentanyl and social media
- American Academy of Pediatrics: Family Media Plan (Planner & Calculator)
- American Academy of Pediatrics - Media and Children: Evidenced-based research and other resources
- Away for the Day: An initiative to help transform schools into cell phone-free spaces
- Bad News online game: Play the fake news game and learn about misinformation vs. credibility
- Better Screen Time: Worry less. Connect more.
- Center for Countering Digital Hate: We counter online hate and disinformation
- Center for Humane Technology: Shifting technology towards a more humane future that supports our well-being, democratic functioning, and shared information environment.
- Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
- Common Sense Media: Reviews for what your kids are into (before they get into it)
- Crisis Text Line: Need to vent? Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a volunteer Crisis Counselor Free confidential 24/7 support at your fingertips.
- CSTAN Resource Library: Articles, links, videos, and more filtered by age, type, and subject
- Culture Reframed, Gail Dines--Solving the Public Health Crisis of the Digital Age
- Cyber Citizenship: OER Commons - Instructional materials, quizzes, games, and more for and by PreK-12 educators
- Cyberbullying Research Center: Resources for identifying, preventing, and responding to cyberbullying
- CyberWise: Get WISE about online safety.
- Defend Young Minds: Kids CAN Learn to Reject Pornography. Start teaching today. We’ll show you how!
- Educate and Empower Kids: We encourage connection, education, open communication, and deliberate parenting.
- Fairplay: Childhood beyond brands. (Formerly Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood)
- Fight the New Drug: Resources for fighting porn
- Get Kids Internet Safe - Dr. Tracy Bennett
- Kids Before Screens: Resources for parents, teachers, schools, & policymakers about internet safety & online addictions.
- LiveMore ScreenLess: Advocates and Promotes Digital Wellbeing for and with Young People.
- Power of Families: Ideas and Inspiration for Purposeful Parents
- Protect Young Eyes: We Help Families, Schools, And Churches Create Safer Digital Environments.
- R.E.A.L. Friends Don't: combatting human trafficking and exploitation. Resources for parents and for teens.
- 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
- Teens + Tech For Educators: Winston Family Initiative in Technology and Adolescent Brain Development
- Tools for Children: practical suggestions, life-changing resources, and judgment-free support for reducing screen time
- Wait Until 8th: We empower parents to say yes to waiting for the smartphone.
- We Stand Guard: Personal Safety for Kids
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."
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."
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."
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.
Gryphon
FINALLY... YOUR FAMILY CAN WEB WITHOUT WORRY®
Mesh WiFi Security Router & Parental Control System
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.
Safe Smart Phones for Kids
What makes Troomi different?
Featuring Troomi AI-Powered Suite
No pornography, predators, and bullies
No social media or harmful games
Graduate kids into more functionality based on needs and maturity
Option for safe web browser
Access to safe apps for school and creativity
Schedule access based on time of day
Safe environment to prepare kids for the future
AI Text Monitoring
AI Content Alerts
HSH Amazon Marketplace
Find *products we love that will help you create healthy screen habits in your home.
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!