Finally, a new application that will allow parents to control the time their children spend on their electronics, without arguments!
For many kids, growing up in this day and age means spending more time in front of a screen than playing outside with other kids. This is not surprising, considering how affordable electronic devices have become. However, this fact poses a growing problem for parents: How to stop kids from spending too much time in front of a screen without crying and tantrums?
A 2015 study by Common Sense Media reported that children ages 8 to 18 in the U.S. spend an average of nine hours each day on social media. It's become an addiction for many, but a new app called unGlue is here to make it easier to manage. The app helps families agree on how much time to give kids to engage with their electronics and makes sure that time is adhered to.
Alon Shwartz, co-founder and CEO of UnGlue, is the father of a daughter and two sons, ages 11 to 18. He created the app as a piece of control, and his children helped shape it.
“To be honest, kids are kids, even if their dad is the CEO and co-founder of unGlue, so they weren’t ‘jumping around for joy’ when we started the unGlue journey a few years ago,” Shwartz said.
But involving children in deciding how much time they should spend on their electronics and being able to manage that time as they wish gives them a sense of autonomy. The opportunity to earn extra time by doing chores or save some of their time for another day teaches valuable skills as well.
The app was specifically created to be as family-friendly and user-friendly as possible. It is set up in a way that allows a parent to monitor the screen time of all family members from their own devices. From their side, each child can see exactly how much time they still have available.
A common problem with some of the parental control apps on the market is that they rely on an on/off switch. This leaves children without the ability to learn how to manage their time. The most common result of these apps is a show of parent-child power.
Shwartz recognized this and has a message for parents.
"Have a conversation with your kids before you set boundaries for them. Forget parental control and think about child empowerment," Shwartz said. "You want to help them learn how to manage their own time. The more involved your kids are in the process, the less reactive they will be."
The free UnGlue app was originally launched for iOS, but was recently added to Android devices.
