Communities

Moms of Teenagers

All Communities > Moms of Teenagers > computer time

computer time

Lisa - posted on 01/23/2009 ( 3 moms have responded )

4

13

How long do you let your teen on the computer? My daughter is on her computer many hours of the day. It is school holidays here in Australia and I can say she is easily on her computer for 8-10 hrs a day. She loves photography and spends hours photo shopping her pics, she also loves to draw and has one of those drawing board things and puts her drawings onto a art site she belongs to and she writes stories with her friends. When she is not doing this she is watching Youtube. Her computer is in our dining area so we can hear and see at anytime what she is watching, drawing or who she might be MSNing so I am not worried about her doing the wrong thing. I also think many kids today watch YOUTUBE like we watched TV. School starts next week and we have to cut back her computer time to a "normal" level, I just don't know what that is having only one kid. How long are your kids on the computer?

Join Circle of Moms

Sign up for Circle of Moms and be a part of this community! Membership is just one click away.

Join Circle of Moms

3 Comments

View replies by

Lisa - posted on 01/26/2009

4

13

I guess I am looking for the magic "amount of time" and since every kid and family is different, there will be many different amounts of time people let thier kids on the computer. But from what I am hearing the average is about 1 hour, I have told her she will only be allowed on for 1 1/2 hrs a day and that is after her school work and any chores she needs to do are done. My daughter spends very little time on the phone because she does her "talking" on MSN. If she does use the phone its to text a quick message so at least the phone isn't an issue here. She doesn't watch much TV either, she watches YOUTUBE like it's TV. I am aware that a lot of what she is doing on the computer may benefit what she decides to do after school we just have to find a good mix of school work, family life and computer mix.  Thanks for your thoughts.

Theresa - posted on 01/24/2009

36

6

We first require that all schoolwork and chores are done before any "down time" is allowed.  (And just asking if a child has homework doesn't always work because most kids...even well-meaning ones...think of homework as something written, while studying and reviewing is homework, as well.) 



We often don't really have much more than 30 minutes to an hour after that for computer time, as there are still the basics such as bathing, etc.  I do encourage our girls to spend at least 30 minutes reading if they don't have homework.  I've also heard of parents who have their kids match the time they spend watching television or on the computer with time reading or something else.  Naturally, you'll want family time, as well.  Just a couple ideas.  Hope they help.

Michelle - posted on 01/24/2009

15

6

Too much, but guess what... here I am too... As long as you can see what she is doing that is a huge benefit. If it benefits her future, the art, photography etc. then it isn't wasteful. I would concentrate on the youtube chat time, and what time would be ok for her to be on the phone or in front of the tv? Good luck.

Want to find out the opinions of this community?

Add Poll