Imagine being a parent trying to make sure your child isn’t spending all their time online.
You talk to your child about limiting their screen time. You may even set timers on various devices to track their usage.
But without the ability to sync up timers across different devices, you’re left trying to monitor several devices simultaneously or chancing that your kid might just trade one device for another once they’ve hit their time limit on the first.
One lawmaker from Los Angeles County is hoping to make life easier for parents on this front.
Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce, has introduced the Tracking Online Time and Limits (TOTAL) Screen Time Act, a bipartisan bill to help parents manage their children’s screen time across multiple devices, including phones, tablets, computers, game consoles and televisions.
Right now, parents can set time limits on devices, but the devices don’t “talk” to one another, making it a challenge for parents to monitor and enforce total screen time.
For example, if a child reaches their smartphone use limit, they could switch to a tablet or log onto their computer, essentially restarting the clock.
To prevent kids from “device hopping,” the proposed legislation, H.R. 9692, would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to convene stakeholders and experts to design a framework on how companies should develop products that are interoperable, thus enabling parents to set and enforce screen time limits across multiple devices.
“As a parent, I’ve seen how hard it is to enforce any kind of screen time limits on one device for my kids, let alone multiple devices that all have different apps with different passwords,” Whitesides said in a statement.
“This bill doesn’t tell families how much screen time is right for their kids — that’s a decision for parents to make. What it does is give parents the tools to actually enforce that decision, no matter what device their child picks up,” he added.
To address privacy and security concerns, the bill would require that the NIST-established standards minimize data exchanged between devices, prohibit the creation of a centralized database that tracks a child’s activity and maintain strong cybersecurity protections.
Policymakers at the federal, state and local levels have increasingly expressed interest in limiting young people’s screen time.
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory, warning of the potential harm that social media can have on children and adolescents.
In addition, the American Psychological Association has reported that many teens spend nearly five hours a day on social media, with over half spending at least four hours each day on such platforms. Teens who use social media most frequently report suffering from poor mental health at higher rates, including a greater tendency to think about suicide or self-harm, the association said.
Whitesides called the TOTAL Screen Time Act “a commonsense, bipartisan fix to a problem nearly every parent” has faced.
The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Pat Harrigan of North Carolina and Mike Haridopolos of Florida, along with Democratic Rep. April McClain of Maryland, and has been referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology for consideration.
