Ask What She Watches, Not How Long

Asking what she watches online is harder than timing it, and more useful.

A two-minute read, three things to try, for ages 7 to 13.

Where to start

Ask what she watched this week, not how long.
Screen-time advice usually counts hours: how long, when, in which rooms. The harder and more useful question is what she is watching. A child can spend two hours a day on cookery videos and animal clips and be doing nothing a parent would worry about. Another child can spend twenty minutes a day on a platform that has, in a fortnight, served her a hundred pieces of content about self-harm, because she paused on one and the algorithm decided that was who she was.

The rest of the tip, with more to try and why it works, is in the library.

It goes with

What Screen Time Actually Is. For parents who feel they have lost the argument about screens.
Your Child’s Online World. For parents who have seen something on their child’s phone that they can’t unsee.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full.

Free on this subject

Screen time. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.
Online safety. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.

The rest of the library

The Parent Book is a library written by therapists: chapters on the situations parents bring to our therapy rooms most often, quick tips for tonight, things to do together, and every sheet to print. One subscription opens all of it, from the day you join.

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If you need help right now

If you or your child is in immediate danger: 999 · Go to your nearest A&E · 24/7.
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If you need help right now

Published by Kensington Square Therapy. Company No. 16707111. Written by therapists registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS). This page is not therapy, and not a substitute for professional support. The full library is at theparentbook.com.