[OLD, delete me] How can I prevent overtime, so kids can't go over their time limit?

When kids struggle to stay within their screen time limits, and continually go into overtime, it can be a good idea to enforce healthier habits by blocking them at the end of their limit. With that said, we encourage making this a temporary change so that kids can get back to practicing staying within their limits on their own (Check out our stance on parental controls for more information.)

How do I deny overtime?

1. In the Screenable app, go to your kid's settings.
2. Tap the Deny overtime toggle to turn it on.
3. Select the number of days for it to stay on (the default is one week). It will turn back off at 4am on that day – so for example, if you select 1 day, overtime will be denied until 4am the following day.
4. When you save, it takes up to 5 minutes to take effect on your kid's device.

How should I communicate it to my kids?

It's best if this doesn't come as a surprise to kids, but is rather messaged in advance to set expectations. For instance, you might do something like this:

1. Remind them of their target screen time limits, and why it's important and healthy to have limits.
2. Mention that you've noticed they're going over their limits more frequently, and it's your job to make sure they're being safe and healthy online.
3. Tell them that you'll have to deny overtime if they continue to go over their limits – ideally making it a goal, like, "I really want you to try to stay within your limits for the next X days, to show me you can do it. I'll try to remind you because I want you to succeed here."
4. Then tell them how many days you expect to deny overtime if they can't stay within their limits. We recommend 7 days as an average period, but you could start with 2 or 3 days if it's their first time struggling.
5. If they go over their limits, turn on Deny Overtime. Ideally go find them in person and tell them you're about to do it, so it doesn't come across passive aggressive or interrupt them in the middle of something truly important. If they need a few more minutes, you might allow them to finish what they're doing (since turning on Deny Overtime will block them within a matter of minutes).
6. Remind them of what day it will turn back off, so you're both aware of it and know when they'll be allowed to start practicing healthy habits again.

How can I "pause the internet" to immediately block kids from their devices?

Unless your kid is already in overtime, the Deny Overtime feature does not immediately block kids from using their devices, so, it's not a "kill switch" or a "pause the Internet" feature. Instead it denies them from being allowed to go into overtime, whenever that next happens.

If you need to block them immediately for some reason, change today's limit and choose "Block until tomorrow".