Screen time and bus rides

[Anonymous]

Middle school bus takes 40 min so DD is racking up tons of screen time on school days. We are letting her use it without limits for the commute. It seems like we need to rein it in once she’s home. But she only communicates with friends over text and all her “homework” is online. How are the middle school parents handling screen time?

[Anonymous]

I have a 6th grader. Homework is done on a laptop not a phone or iPad. Laptop is in a shared space.
Texting friends is ok as long as it doesn’t take over other things. No phone while doing homework, eating dinner, etc.

[Anonymous]

Why the heck does her bus take 40min?

Just set the downtimes and app limits. So easy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why the heck does her bus take 40min?

Just set the downtimes and app limits. So easy

Because we are the furthest community away from her middle school and there’s a billion stops the bus makes.
-op

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why the heck does her bus take 40min?

Just set the downtimes and app limits. So easy

+1

Just adjust her screentime/limits in the app as needed.

[Anonymous]

Screen time while commuting falls in its own category. I see it as closer to say having the radio on or Spotify up when driving than anything else. Heck, I spend 30 minutes each day each way on my phone while on the MARC as it is an awkward time to do anything else. I would encourage her to pack earbuds and listen to music, audiobooks, and podcasts during that time.

Insofar as doing homework, my concern would be is her homework getting done or is she getting sidetracked doing unrelated things on her devices instead?

[Anonymous]

Once she's home she can't do anything personal until her HW is done. Have her do her hw in a shared space (like the kitchen table) and keep an eye on what she's doing. Only her school device, which I hope does not have messaging on it.

Also, if she's not managing it well, she needs to know that the personal device will go away or become much more limited.

[Anonymous]

Encourage her to read for school, read a book for fun, listen to an audiobook.

But, obviously it’s going to be up to her bc you aren’t there. You can do the screen time limits, but don’t be surprised if she gets around them.

[Anonymous]

Mine have to manage their grades, their chores, and their attitudes. If any of those things start slipping, screen time is the first thing I'm looking at and they know it. However beyond that they only have time limits on social media (30 minutes a day) and a hard cutoff/downtime in the evening. Beyond that I leave them to manage it with the above parameters in place. I should also add that both have strenuous extra curriculars that keep them busy as well.

[Anonymous]

We provide an hour of screen time each day. If my son chooses to use it on the bus, great. If he chooses to use it at night, great. He chooses when but we don't add additional time because he runs out of time in the evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We provide an hour of screen time each day. If my son chooses to use it on the bus, great. If he chooses to use it at night, great. He chooses when but we don't add additional time because he runs out of time in the evening.

+1

Also mine does homework on the 25 minute ride home on her laptop, I turn off the radio.

[Anonymous]

If they like screen time on phone, bus is a great time to do it.

[Anonymous]

I don’t find it realistic to limit her screen time once she’s home if she has done her homework and is not going to a practice and has completed her chores. It will cause contention. But Maybe I should have more of an issue with it.
-OP

[Anonymous]

Easy. Leave phone at home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t find it realistic to limit her screen time once she’s home if she has done her homework and is not going to a practice and has completed her chores. It will cause contention. But Maybe I should have more of an issue with it.
-OP

I agree OP and I don’t limit it under these circumstances either. My kids are also expected to talk to me and DH respectfully and can lose access if they forget too often. Also no phones at the table and they shut off at 8:30pm.