A New Way to Help You Balance Your Kids’ Technology Time

If you’re not familiar with Common Sense Media, they are a non-profit organization which was founded in 2003. Their mission is to ensure digital well-being for kids everywhere, and they are a leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families and schools.

Common Sense Media rates movies, TV shows, books, and video games so that parents can be educated about the entertainment choices they make for their kids. They offer the largest, most trusted library of independent age-based ratings and reviews. 

“Tech Balance” is a new campaign from Common Sense, aimed at parents and caregivers of children ages three to eight. This is often the age range when parents first begin to wonder about healthy limits on kids’ screen time.

It’s super easy to sign up for the program’s free tips:

1. From any smartphone, just text the word “kids” to this number: 21555
2. Answer a very brief survey.
3. Start receiving your parenting tips!

Participants will receive weekly information via text message about healthy tech use at home, advice for setting screen time limits with your kids, expert recommendations for age-appropriate content your kids can enjoy, and tips for talking about what your kids see online.

If you sign up, you can expect two text messages per week, and occasionally Common Sense Media will send a quick poll or quiz of three questions to get insight and feedback from parents on how to improve the content they are sending out.  

Victoria Saylor, the Arizona Regional Manager for Common Sense’s education program shares, “As a busy mom and former educator, I find the Tech Balance program to be a convenient resource when it comes to receiving trustworthy information on technology and anything media related.  The age group it targets is 3-8, but I find that the bite-size pieces of advice and recommendations are relevant for kids of all ages. Whether it’s advice on how to help my kids manage their screen time, friendly reminders to be a good media mentor to my children, or something as simple as remembering to have a device-free dinner. Common Sense Media has a great website and now having the option of receiving tips via a text message makes it easy for me to regularly implement good media habits with my family.”

“Tech Balance” is a free program (however, text messages charges from your mobile provider may apply) that is available in both English and Spanish, and you can choose to stop participating at any time. Common Sense Media will not share your phone number or information with any other third parties.

For more information, please visit Common Sense Media’s site Tech Balance | Common Sense Media