Screen time tips parents can use during summertime

It’s summer in the northern hemisphere — a time of beachside vacays, backyard barbecues, dripping ice-cream cones, and, occasionally, tricky conversations.

For many families, the season brings a challenge: balancing your workload with looking after kids who suddenly have a lot of free time. For some young minds, “free time” means “screen time,” and trying to set digital boundaries can cause friction.

To help, we connected with the Head of YouTube Health, Dr. Garth Graham, a father of four who’s deeply involved in the platform’s efforts to support kids’ wellbeing. Below, he shares how he sets rules in his own home, helpful approaches for communicating about screen time, and how our tools can stop you from having to be the bad guy.

Thanks for joining us, doctor. I’ll start with a simple one: Why not just give kids’ free rein? It’s summer, after all. (Can you tell I’m not a parent?)

Dr. Garth: [Laughs] I understand that temptation. But the key issue with screen time is less about quantity and more about the quality. Technology has immense benefits, but to extract them we should work with our children to be deliberate about what they’re watching. Take my eldest son. He’s gained an incredible amount of knowledge watching geography videos on YouTube — now he’s competing in a worldwide geography quiz competition. Intentional viewing can open up a world of experiences to kids.

Of course, summer is a balancing act, and we also want them to balance online and offline activities and build real-world relationships.