Electronic devices have a dominant intervention in our professional as well as recreational activities. It’s not just grown-ups but children are getting exposed to smartphones, tablets, TV, video games, computers etc. This increased screen time is becoming a growing concern for parents these days. Screen time is the time one spends watching TV, working on computers, playing video games using Touch screens smartphones. TV Viewing Habits
TV, in particular, is a part of daily entertainment for children and also a commonly observed family time. However, pediatricians warn about several health impacts associated with too much TV watching which include sleep disorder, obesity, low attention-levels, inactivity, and low academic performance. If it’s a non-educational programme, pediatricians recommend not more than two hours of TV exposure a day.
To a significant extent, their TV Viewing habits are influenced by yours. Therefore, you can start with these basic steps.
Steps for Controlling TV Viewing Habits:
Calculate the TV watching time.
Start by assessing how much time your family spends watching TV and on other devices in a day. Just choose a random day and track this for the entire day. This will give you a fair idea of how much your children are exposed to screen. Based on this, you can take active measures to reduce their screen time.
Lead them by example.
Your children will most likely follow your footsteps. There are chances that they pick a habit they see you doing and this may include watching TV. So, if you want them to follow a healthy TV watching time, you’ll have to start from yourself and set an example for them.
And then, you can start using smart TV remote apps. In addition to giving an unparalleled advantage over traditional plastic remotes, these apps help you limit TV watching time and prevent excess screen time for your kids.
How does Peel help?
Peel TV app comes with a long list of smart features which aims to enhance the TV viewing experience for you and your kids. Here is how it minimises screen time for them.
It brings you the programme details on your fingertip…literally!
Browsing channels and looking for the favourite show to watch consumes a lot of time every day. We visit several channels, look at their details and decides whether or not we want to watch it. Cutting that time down can reduce the screen time considerably for kids too. You can rely on the Peel remote control app for that.
It shows you colourful thumbnails of various TV programmes on the home screen. You only have to press a thumbnail for a little longer and it will give you the synopsis of the show. If you like any show, just tap on the thumbnail gently and the app will take you to the corresponding channel. Channel browsing has never been any easier.
What makes the app even more convenient is that, to do this kids don’t have to leave the show you’re watching. They can perform all these actions while staying on the same channel.
It continuously records viewing preferences.
As you interact with the Peel remote app, it notes down your preference. It continues to record what you like in terms of type or genre and what you tend to skip. If your kids like cartoon channels, animation movies, sports or any infotainment shows, the app remembers it. Based on this, it provides close recommendations in form of thumbnails on the home screen.
The app is quite an intelligent TV watching assistant for you. Not only does it recommend you what you or your kids may want to watch, but its recommendations also become more accurate over time as you interact with it increasingly.
Like the feature given above, these smart recommendations also help reduce browsing time and thus overall TV screen exposure for your children.
It lets you plan your TV schedule.
TV programme guide is one of the most helpful and interesting features of the Peel smart remote app. It lets you plan your watchlist ahead. And doing that is very simple. Open the app on your phone and look at the list of upcoming programme. Once you’ve finalised what you want to watch over the next few days, you can create a schedule for it. Even if you forget about it, the app will send you a reminder of the upcoming show from the scheduled list. You can create a schedule for as long as a week in advance.
Besides being a great convenience, the TV programme guide helps you decide what you want your kids to view and when you want to view it. This cuts down screen exposure significantly.
It works even without a cable subscription.
It’s also true that cable contributes a lot to TV watching habits of children. With a variety of shows available, it keeps them hooked to the TV for a longer time, besides consuming their time browsing. So, if you’re thinking to get your cable subscription removed, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Thankfully, Peel can work without a cable connection. It’s compatible with streaming services and devices like YouTube, Netflix, Chromecast, Roku etc. So, your kids will still have access to a lot of their favourite shows, but in a controlled manner.
All in all, Peel helps in giving your children a healthier lifestyle.
Limiting screen time, in no sense, means preventing your children from watching TV at all. Instead, it ensures that they make the most out of TV viewing time and it doesn’t cast any negative effect on their overall development. While it won’t be the best solution to shut the TV down totally, what you can do is set TV-free family time in interactions, playing games or interesting hobbies. In this effort, it certainly would help if you can channelise and limit TV watching habits of your children.
Peel has all the features which allows your children to live a healthier lifestyle by saving the time for other activities like reading, sports and spending quality time with their dear ones.
