Screen time rules for families
Subject in Parenting
Screen time rules for families has come up in 1 episode across 1 podcast in TMT, including The Mel Robbins Podcast. 2 people have made recorded remarks about it.
What people said
Jonathan HaidtAmerican social psychologist, professor at NYU Stern School of Business, and author of The Anxious Generation
Haidt says the worst online harms, including porn addiction and sexual predation, happen overnight, so devices must leave the bedroom.
“the rule has to be all devices out of the bedroom by 10 o'clock or something or other, because that's where the worst stuff happens is overnight”
The Mel Robbins Podcast: NYU Professor: Do This for 2 Weeks to Get Your Focus, Motivation, & Life Back (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 49:16
Haidt's household rules are computers and TVs in common spaces with no screens ever in bedrooms, and long-form stories rather than short-form content.
“you can have a computer in a common space. You can have a TV in a common space. And then you just simply have a rule, no screens in the bedroom ever”
The Mel Robbins Podcast: NYU Professor: Do This for 2 Weeks to Get Your Focus, Motivation, & Life Back (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 46:29
Haidt says apps expand to fill every available moment, so parents can impose limits regardless of how addicted a child already is.
“these apps, they expand like a gas to fill every available moment. That's how we get to five hours a day of social media use for kids”
The Mel Robbins Podcast: NYU Professor: Do This for 2 Weeks to Get Your Focus, Motivation, & Life Back (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 45:45
Haidt recommends restricting devices in place and time rather than removing them outright, starting with sleep and a 10 p.m. shutoff.
“let's just get your sleep in order. How about, could we just do like everything gets shut off at 10 o'clock? Try to put some structures in space and time”
The Mel Robbins Podcast: NYU Professor: Do This for 2 Weeks to Get Your Focus, Motivation, & Life Back (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 43:32
Mel RobbinsAmerican author, podcast host and former lawyer who hosts The Mel Robbins Podcast
Robbins says not keeping her phone on her body has made a significant difference in her own use.
“If I don't have it on my body, I don't reach for it”
The Mel Robbins Podcast: NYU Professor: Do This for 2 Weeks to Get Your Focus, Motivation, & Life Back (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 48:58
Podcasts
- The Mel Robbins Podcast · 1 episode
Episodes
NYU Professor: Do This for 2 Weeks to Get Your Focus, Motivation, & Life BackThe Mel Robbins Podcast · Sep 14, 2026 · 59 min
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt tells Mel Robbins how quick dopamine from phones harms boys and girls differently and how to reclaim attention.