Moms and Media · September 17, 2018

Back to School With Tech

By edison

By now, all kids are back in school and have said goodbye to summer vacation. Trying to establish new routines and reconnect with old ones is always a challenge for kids and their parents. For those of us with kids, Back-to-School could be renamed Back-to-Stress! Luckily, once everyone settles into the first month or so, daily activities normalize and life gets a little bit easier, or at least it seems to. What does not seem to get easier though, is managing kids and their use of technology. This challenge stands front and center when school is back in session.

According to data from The Research Moms, about 45% of moms agree that their children have more screen time than they would like. Finding a balance between acceptable use and overuse is difficult when technology surrounds us at home. Moms report a variety of devices and modern media adding up to screen time for their children, including televisions, smartphones, tablets, video streaming and gaming consoles. Most Moms are ok with some screen time as long as it is controlled, with 75% saying they agree that screen time is acceptable as long as limits are set on time and content.

Screen Time for Children Limits

However, controlling that time, especially for school-age children can be a bit tricky because so much homework is completed online and screen time is necessary. In many school districts, Google classroom has become a standard and take home worksheets and textbooks have been replaced with digital study guides and other online resources. Teachers are further taking advantage of technology to reach their teenage students, using smartphone apps to communicate about test prep and assignment reminders.

Moms are already familiar with their children having screen time, with 70% reporting that they have children who use the Internet every day and 57% with children who use a computer daily.

Research Moms Kids Doing Activities

Parents beware, your children may be telling the truth when they say they need their devices for homework, and instead of having less screen time during the school year, be prepared for it to be more.

Want more moms data? Come back soon for a sneak peek at a brand new 2018 study from The Research Moms. The new study includes fresh tracking data about kids and technology as well as insights about the mental load that mothers bear.

How the study was conducted:
The Research Moms conducted a national online survey of 520 mothers with children age 21 and under in June 2016.

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