Teens’ TV Shows and Increasing Screen Time — How Parents Should Handle It?

Binge-worthy or miss-the-school-and-F-the-grades-worthy teen dramas? Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc. are full of addictive TV shows for teens with hundreds and thousands of hours’ worth of content and algorithms that encourage binge-watch. Before many of us realize, we are already on to watching the next episode.

Kids with non-stop access to computers, smartphones, and the internet in their rooms end up with significantly higher screen time than those who don’t. Kids need entertainment—we get that—and finding an exciting show really makes up for that. But as adults, we are more profound in our choices. The same can’t be said about our children.

TV Shows and Increasing Screen Time of Teens

Streaming services are seeing teen dramas as a high-value genre, largely attributed to the ample time kids have. But more business for these streaming companies come at a cost not inclusive to them but to their viewers. That’s right. We all pay for the screen time entertainment, not just with the subscriptions but also through our time. And kids need to understand the opportunity cost of hooking up to screens. And only you, as their guardians, can do that.

As a parent, struggling to manage the increased screen time of your child due to TV shows? Below are some tips for parents to ensure a healthy lifestyle of their children:

1. Set Rules for screen usage: Parents should set up some ground rules about the usage of devices. There should be no TV watching in the bedroom and during mealtimes. Encourage them to watch informational shows or videos on TV.

2. Go for smaller sessions: It will be best to divide the screen time into smaller sessions. Ask your child to take a break after 30 minutes of watching a show or playing an online game. Ask your child to stand up and walk around.

3. Physical activity is a must: Tell the importance of the physical activity to your child for a healthy mind and body. Engage them in some outdoor sports activities.

4. Encourage teens for extracurricular activities: If your child has an interest in extracurricular activities, then encourage your child to participate. This can include activities like debating, music swimming, and much more.

5. No devices before bed: Teenagers should get a sleep of 8 to 10 hours. Take the devices from your child 1 or 2 hours before bedtime, so that they can sleep well.

6. Encourage children to socialize with friends: Instead of chatting with friends on social media platforms, ask your child to go out and meet them. Ask your child to invite friends at home, play in-ground, or make a plan for the movie.

Let me get this straight. The above rules are tough because they are about following a routine. And kids hate that. But it’s doable if your kids don’t already have their awful screen time routines place. This implies, kids need to be taught about screen time rules as early as possible. But, if your child has already been down the lane with years of unmanaged screen time, you might have to take some more aggressive measures, like the inclusion of parental controls to their devices.

How a Parental Control App Can Help?

When we are talking about parental controls, it doesn’t only refer to built-in features to restrict the usage of your child; we are talking about going one step further and using third-party parental control for properly monitoring kid’s online activities on their devices and much more. Now, the next question circling in your mind will be: “If there are built-in parental controls available, why the heck would I spend on a third-party solution.” The answer is very simple. The built-in parental controls are not meant to tackle the screen time and screen addiction issues amongst kids. They are designed to keep your kids safe during their online browsing and social networking sessions.

What is XNSPY?

XNSPY is going to change the way you monitor your kid’s online activities. With this, parents can know what their children are doing online, with whom they are chatting, what places they are visiting, and remote access to your child’s devices for maximum control.

How XNSPY Will Be Helpful?

Once installed, XNSPY will work flawlessly. Parents can track different things on their children’s devices remotely. Parents can check all the bookmarked websites. Furthermore, you can also check your child’s browsing history to see what kind of shows are being watched. If your child is watching age-restricted content, you can talk about it with your child.

There is also an instant alert feature that parents can use to set alerts on specific TV show names whenever they are typed in the search bar of a streaming app. Parents will get an instant alert when a similar word is typed on a device by their child. You can use this feature for specific contacts, locations, and more as well as per your needs.

Moving on, if a teenager likes to visit the cinema without your permission and you have a doubt. You can clear this doubt by tracking the location of your child. You can geo-fence all the nearby cinemas to your home. As soon the teen will enter or leave the cinema, the parent will get an alert on their device.

Parents can also take live screenshots of children’s mobile to see what they are doing on their mobile phones. If you notice them watching shows or movies most of the time, then you could do an intervention.

Last but not the least, you can also remotely monitor the videos on your child’s mobile. There is a possibility that your child might have downloaded some TV shows on mobile. In this way, your child can watch it anytime without any restrictions. But the best part is, you can remove the mobile data remotely as well. Before doing this, talk to your kid. If your child understands your point of view, then there is no need to delete the data. Moreover, you can remotely check the downloaded apps on your child’s mobile. They might have downloaded video streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, and others in their devices to watch different shows.

Requirements to Use XNSPY

The majority of parental control apps come with different subscription plans. The same is the case with XNSPY. The user can pick any plan as per their needs. There are two plans. The Basic version comes with limited features and has a price tag of $4.99 per month. The Premium version boasts all the features unlocked at a price tag of $7.49 per month.

To download the app in your Android phones, simply download the installation file from the app’s official website and follow the instructions to run the program. In the case of an iPhone, you will also need iTunes and Xnspy installed on a computer. The app will work fine with Android devices running version above 4.0 and for iOS devices, it should be above 6.0

Bonus: Best Teen’s TV Shows to Watch!

Have a look at the list of some of the prominent TV shows for teens in 2020:

“Never Have I Ever”
This show is created by Mindy Kaling. The prominent cast of the show includes Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Lee Rodriguez, and Poorna Jagannathan. This show is revolving around the life of a teenager (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar) whose high school life is passing through a tough phase. The show will tell you all about her struggles in high school and in her life.

“Sex Explained”
The leading cast of this show includes Janelle Monae, Shareen Joshi, and Lisa Diamond. This show is going to explain the different aspects of sex. You will know about the history and science behind the birth, different sexual fantasies, natural sexual attraction, and much more.

“Stargirl”
This show is created by Geoff Johns. The prominent cast members are Brec Bassinger, Amy Smart, and Meg Delacy. The story of this show revolves around a girl who will be making up a team of young heroes to fight villains from the past.

“Dare Me”
This show is created by Megan Abbott. The cast includes Herizen F. Guardiola, Paul Fitzgerald, and Marlo Kelly. This show is going to show the life of cheerleaders and the challenges they have to face to become the best.

“I Am Not Okay With This”
This show is created by Jonathan Entwistle. The cast includes Kathleen Rose Perkins, Sophia Lillis, and Sofia Bryant. In this, you are going to see the experiences of a teenager in high school and about her own sexuality. More importantly, she has some superpowers as well!
Some other good shows to watch are Euphoria, Schooled, Deadly Class, Sex Education, Hanna, Cloak & Dagger, and much more. The selection of the show is all person’s own choice!