Too much of a good thing can be bad
Who has ever really needed 31 flavors of ice cream? Or 57 varieties of condiments?
We have so many choices that going to the supermarket can bring about feelings that shouldn’t really be associated with buying groceries – inadequacy, unpreparedness, fear about the choice you’ve made, stress about what else you’re not making the best choice on. All I wanted was juice, people! Can’t we simply have juice!
Choice overload is inherent in digital
Back when content was on clay tablets and papyrus sheets, there was natural selection – quality was a requirement. Also, you had to actively seek out content. It was locked away in a palace or in an ancient library in a city with a cool name like Alexandria or Constantinople.
With digital, every thought that crosses anyone’s mind can be put out there. If you’ve ever watched a video or read something online and then been like ‘huh?!’. You get the con. Also, content is hosed down your throat. Imagine if you had to know a King in order to watch a cat video. Just how minutes of your life would you get back?
If choice overload is hard for grownups, imagine what it’s like for young kids
Sometimes you see kids watch one thing for a few minutes, or even seconds, then select another, then another, then another. Oh the exhaustion!
This week, go up to a kid when they least expect it and sing in your best operatic voice, “Help is on the way!” Just to be dramatic. But really, help is on the way. Here are some simple tips that will save kids from the tyranny of choice overload they can encounter with screen time.
Always use full-screen mode in YouTube(kids)
Full-screen mode is a simple but effective hack to help kids keep focus on one thing at a time. How is this possible, you say?
You know that extreme FOMO-inducing reel of additional videos in YouTube and YouTubeKids? Even if the recommendations are helpful, that reel is distracting and makes you feel like less of a person for whatever choice you made.
Now, it turns out you can’t turn the reel off. But full screen gets the job mostly done.
How to get full-screen mode
Press the icon that looks like a square in the bottom right of every video. That expands to full screen. The kids will eventually figure out how to minimize the screen again but believe me, just not having all the options staring at them constantly means that each video will get more of a fair shot.
For extra points, turn off autoplay
Stop other videos from being shoved down their throat (unless you want that to occupy the kids for a bit). On the bottom of the viewing screen, there is a toggle that has a play or pause sign on it. Use it!
Make a timetable for the range of options to choose from
We are so used to the ridiculous number of choices we are forced to make. This thought exercise can bring home how helpful a timetable can be to simplify things.
Imagine if each day, a teacher had to randomly choose what to teach kids. Ugh! And you thought deciding what’s for dinner is hard. Thankfully, schools have timetables – the first period is math, then literacy skills, then science etc. ‘Math’ is huge and there are many choices of what to do there. But it is at least limited to a topic area and the choices are more manageable.
Similarly, you can help kids out by limiting the set of options they have to choose from.
For example, you can say, screen time on Mondays has to be related to math – they can play a math video game, watch a show that teaches math, etc. You can have a rule for just one day a week, every other weekday, or even entire weeks! It is your rule to make. Do what works in your home.
Yours truly has a simple rule for her kids. Screen time during weekdays has to be in Spanish. That dramatically reduces the options for the kids AND helps them practice their Spanish 😂.
Use playlists aka Anetapacks to give kids a manageable set of great options
This is not a shameless plug to get you to use Aneta. This is a very proud plug!
Aneta is literally created to help solve the problem of kids watching garbage screen time AND everyone being overwhelmed by choices.
Anetapacks are to web resources what playlists are to music
Like the way a good Spotify playlist hits the spot with just what you need to hear, Anetapacks are curations of internet resources that are fun, educational, and engaging for kids. The added bonus is that the kids can navigate themselves whether they are literate or not and you’re not limited to the content in one app.
So there you have it. Help these kids! Okay, the kids won’t see it as help and will push back. But you are a kind and patient grownup who knows it’s for their own good. So go on and do it. That’s a choice we’ve taken off your plate.
