BRO Teens · Parents · The Guide

The Screen-Time Reset

Your phone is not evil. It is just very, very good at its job, and its job is keeping you on it. Here is how to take back a few hours a day without throwing it in a lake.

Written for teens and their parents. No sign-up, nothing to join. The challenge ticks are saved in your browser only.

No lecture, just facts

The honest why

Nobody is saying screens are bad. Video calls with Grandma, a recipe, a map, a good film on a Friday: great. The trouble is the endless stuff, the feeds and short videos built by very smart people whose job is to keep you scrolling. Here is what it costs, in plain English.

Sleep

Teens need about 8 to 10 hours. Phones in bed push bedtime later, the notifications wake you, and a tired brain is a grumpy, forgetful, hungry one. Sleep is the first thing to fix and the fastest to feel.

Attention

Every swipe trains your brain to expect something new every few seconds. Then a textbook, a long class or a long drive feels unbearable. Attention is a muscle, and it gets weaker when it is never used.

Mood

Comparing your ordinary Tuesday with everyone else’s best photo is a losing game. Lots of teens say they feel worse after scrolling, not better. You are allowed to notice that and do something about it.

Time

Four hours a day is 28 hours a week. That is a part-time job, an instrument, a sport, or a whole skill you could have by summer.

If you ever feel really low, hopeless or unsafe, talk to a parent, a teacher, a coach or a school counselor today. You will not be in trouble. In the U.S. and Canada you can also call or text 988, any time, free.

Thirty days, one tick at a time

The 30-day reset challenge

One small thing a day. Do them in order or jump around; the point is progress, not perfection. It remembers your ticks on this device, and it prints on one page for the fridge.

102 ideas

100 things to do instead

Boredom is not a problem to solve. It is where every hobby, every fort and every good idea starts. Filter by your age, indoors or out, and who you are with.

Showing 102 of 102

1.Learn to juggle a soccer ball ten times in a row, then twenty.
2.Pick-up basketball, and whoever loses rebounds for the winners.
3.Play catch with a parent until neither of you drops it for fifty throws.
4.Read a whole book series. Start with one the librarian says boys and girls your age cannot put down.
5.Cook dinner for the family one night a week.
6.Learn ten chords on a guitar, ukulele or piano.
7.Ride your bike to a place you have never ridden to.
8.Board game marathon: Monopoly all the way to the end, for once.
9.Build a fort in the woods or the backyard, with permission.
10.Draw every day for a week in a cheap sketchbook.
11.Build a LEGO city or a cardboard marble run that takes up the whole floor.
12.Capture the flag with every kid on the street.
13.Start a rock, leaf or bug collection with a notebook of what you found.
14.Bake cookies from a family recipe and write it on a card for your own recipe box.
15.Plant a small garden patch and look after it all summer.
16.Write and draw your own comic book.
17.Learn to skip a stone five times.
18.Put on a play or a puppet show for the parents.
19.Go fishing with a bobber and worms.
20.Learn ten magic tricks and perform them at the next family dinner.
21.Run a lemonade stand and decide together what to do with the money.
22.Build a birdhouse with a parent, then keep a log of who moves in.
23.Learn to ride a skateboard, or a unicycle if you are brave.
24.Make a paper airplane that flies across the whole room.
25.Go on a nature scavenger hunt at a park.
26.Have a baking contest with a friend and make the parents judge.
27.Four square, kickball or a game of tag that lasts until the streetlights come on.
28.Do a thousand-piece puzzle with a grandparent.
29.Practice free throws until you make ten in a row.
30.Learn to type properly with all ten fingers. It is a superpower.
31.Camp in the backyard for a night.
32.Build the tallest tower you can with cards or cups.
33.Learn to tie five knots and use them to build something.
34.Make a family newspaper with news, weather and interviews.
35.Bike parade or a bike obstacle course in the driveway.
36.Start a journal and write one page a night.
37.Walk the dog, or offer to walk a neighbor’s.
38.Learn a card game from a grandparent: rummy, cribbage or crazy eights.
39.Learn to jump rope, then double-dutch.
40.Run a science fair in the kitchen: volcanoes, slime, egg drops.
41.Visit a farm, an orchard or a pumpkin patch.
42.Learn to sew on a button and fix a torn seam.
43.Build a snow fort, or a sandcastle with a moat.
44.Make homemade pizza with everybody choosing their own toppings.
45.Run a mile and write down your time. Beat it next month.
46.Model kits: a plane, a car or a ship, painted properly.
47.Get a real part-time job or start a small business: mowing, babysitting, pet sitting.
48.Train for a 5K and run it with a parent.
49.Learn to cook five meals you could make for yourself when you leave home.
50.Learn to change a tire and check the oil with a parent, before you need to.
51.Learn a language with a paper workbook and a library audio course.
52.Join or start a pickleball, tennis or disc golf game with friends every week.
53.Learn to fix things: a bike chain, a leaky faucet, a squeaky door.
54.Volunteer at an animal shelter, a food bank or a summer camp.
55.Start a band, even if it is terrible. Especially if it is terrible.
56.Go on a real hike with a parent: ten miles, a packed lunch and a view.
57.Read one biography of somebody you admire.
58.Plan and cook a full cookout for your friends.
59.Build a piece of furniture with a parent: a bench, a shelf, a table.
60.Get certified in something: lifeguarding, first aid, a hunter education course.
61.Write a letter to your future self, to open on your twenty-first birthday.
62.Plan a day trip by bike or bus with friends, with your parents in on the plan.
63.Sit down with a parent and learn to make a budget for your first paycheck.
64.Learn to fish properly: a real rod, real knots, a license if you need one.
65.Learn to draw faces, or paint a landscape from a photo you took.
66.Help a grandparent with a big job: a garage, a garden, a move.
67.Host a game night with a real snack table and phones in a basket.
68.Take up weight training with a coach or a parent who knows proper form.
69.Learn to type up a resume and a cover letter.
70.Coach or referee little kids in a rec league.
71.Interview a grandparent about their teenage years and write it up.
72.Learn to drive a stick shift, a mower or a boat, with a qualified adult.
73.Build a computer, or learn to code a small program from a book.
74.Camp overnight at a campground with a parent-approved group and an adult.
75.Plan the family vacation: route, budget and one surprise stop.
76.Learn to rock climb at a gym with a belay class.
77.Practice public speaking: give a two-minute talk to your family at dinner.
78.Learn to grill a steak properly with a parent at the grill.
79.Family movie night, one screen, everybody together, phones in a basket.
80.After-dinner walk around the block with the whole family.
81.Learn to solve a Rubik’s cube.
82.Frisbee, ultimate or disc golf at the park.
83.Chess or checkers tournament with a bracket.
84.Go swimming until you can swim a full length without stopping.
85.Write a thank-you note to a teacher or a coach.
86.Stargazing with a sky map and a blanket.
87.Learn to cook eggs five ways.
88.Build a ramp or an obstacle course and time everybody.
89.Do a big job together: clean the garage, organize the pantry, paint a room.
90.Go to the library and leave with three books you would never normally pick.
91.Learn to whistle with your fingers. Annoy everybody.
92.Wash the family car by hand, then wax it.
93.Make a short film with a real camera, a script and a blooper reel.
94.Learn the names of ten trees and ten birds in your neighborhood.
95.Teach a grandparent something, then let them teach you something back.
96.Play a pick-up game of soccer or baseball with no adults organizing it.
97.Build something out of wood with real tools and supervision.
98.Visit a museum, a zoo or a historic site close to home.
99.Learn a family recipe from the oldest cook in the family.
100.Shovel a neighbor’s walk or rake their leaves without being asked.
101.Hold a baking or cooking challenge with a secret ingredient.
102.Go sledding, skating or swimming, depending on the season.

The two rules that do most of the work

Phone-free dinner and phone-free bedroom

Phone-free dinner

Every phone, including the parents’, goes in a basket by the door or on the counter during meals.
Put a question on the table: best and worst part of the day, or “what made you laugh this week?”.
The first person to reach for their phone does the dishes. This rule is strangely effective.
Exceptions agreed in advance only: a parent on call for work, a family emergency.

Phone-free bedroom

All phones charge overnight in the kitchen or living room, from an agreed time.
A $10 alarm clock does the one job you said you needed the phone for.
Read a paper book, draw, or talk before bed instead.
Notice what happens to your sleep in the first week. That is the argument, right there.

For moms and dads

Parents: model it, then ask for it

Kids do not do what we say. They do what we do. If your phone comes out at every red light and every pause in conversation, the rules on the fridge are just decoration.

Go first. Put your own phone in the basket at dinner, and let them see you do it.
Narrate it. “I am putting this away so I can hear about your day.” Out loud. It feels silly and it works.
Replace, do not just remove. Taking the phone away with nothing in its place is a punishment. Offer the ball, the kitchen, the drive, the project.
Delay the smartphone. A basic phone for calls and texts covers most of what a younger kid needs. Social media can wait.
Know the settings. Use the built-in family controls on the phone and the router, and keep devices out of bedrooms at night.
Talk more than you monitor. The best safety feature is a kid who tells you when something online feels off. Make telling you safe: no instant confiscation for honesty.
Do the reset together. Parents take the same 30-day challenge. Compete if you must.

More for dads More for moms Family Boys & Girls

Print it, fill it in, sign it

The family tech agreement

Rules everyone helped write are rules everyone keeps. Sit down together, fill in the blanks, and sign it. Then review it every few months, because a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old need different rules.

Our Family Tech Agreement

Where phones live

Phones charge overnight in the ____________ (not the bedroom), from ______ pm.
No phones at the table at meals, for anybody, parents included.
Phones stay in the car, a pocket or a basket at ____________________.

When

School nights: homework and chores first, then up to ______ hours of fun screens.
Weekends: up to ______ hours a day, and at least ______ hours outside.
Screens off ______ minutes before bed.

What

Apps and games are added by asking first. We agree on: ________________________.
We never share passwords, our address, our school or photos with anyone we have not met in person.
We never send a photo we would not want Grandma to see. We never keep one that was sent to us, either; we tell a parent.
If anything online makes us uncomfortable, we tell a parent. Nobody is in trouble for telling.

Kindness

We do not post about people without their permission.
We do not say anything online we would not say to their face with their mother standing there.

Parents promise too

We will put our own phones away at meals, in the car when talking, and at games and recitals.
We will explain the rules instead of just announcing them, and review this agreement on ______________.
We will listen before we lecture.

Teen signature: ______________________
Date: ____________

Parent signature: ______________________
Date: ____________

Keep going