Creating a family media plan
A plan that everyone helped write is a plan that everyone is more likely to follow. Plans are also living documents—expect to revisit them every few months as kids get older and apps change.
Building a plan for how your family uses media—not just Divine
Where and when use makes sense
- Phones at the dinner table—yes or no, decided together.
- Bedrooms overnight—where do devices charge?
- Homework time—what counts as a focus block?
- Long car rides, family events, hangouts—any shared norms?
- Public posts—what details stay out of videos, like school names, home addresses, daily routines, location clues, or other information that could identify where a child lives, studies, or spends time?
What we do when things get hard
- If something upsetting comes up, we talk before we punish.
- We use the report and mute tools instead of arguing in comments. We don't pile on, quote-post to shame someone, or send other people after an account.
- If a creator or trend stops feeling good, we mute or move on.
- Adults follow the same rules they ask teens to follow.
Regular check-ins
- A short, monthly check-in beats a once-a-year blow-up.
- Ask: what's working, what's not, what should we change?
- Adjust the plan in writing so it's clear what changed.
Boundaries that are collaborative, not punitive
- Boundaries are about the household, not just the teen.
- Explain the why, not just the rule.
- When trust grows, the plan gets more room. That's the deal.
Looking for a template? A few household-plan starting points—from the AAP, Australia's eSafety Commissioner, and the WHO—are in the outside resources at the bottom of this page.
Feed habits and healthy stopping points
Most short-form feeds are designed to keep going. The healthier skill isn't blocking the feed—it's noticing when you've had enough and choosing to stop. That's a skill adults are still learning too.
Practice intentional stopping points
Pick a natural stop together—end of a video, end of a song, end of a meal. The point isn't a hard timer. It's noticing the moment to put the phone down and meaning it.
Modeling matters. If adults in the house never stop scrolling, the lesson lands differently.
Build redirect routines
After a long session, redirect attention on purpose: a walk, music, food, a stretch, a friend, anything offline. The redirect matters as much as the pause.
This isn't about declaring social media bad. It's about making sure it's not the only thing on the menu.
Talking points for the next car ride
- What does "enough scrolling for now" feel like in your body?
- What's the first thing you'd rather do when you put the phone down?
- Is there a creator or topic that always leaves you feeling worse? What would it take to mute it?
But you don't have to take our word for it
These are some resources we recommend. Inclusion here doesn't imply endorsement of every recommendation from these organizations. Read them with the same critical eye you'd bring to any single source—including this one. A few are global; most are from North American or UK sources.
Plans you can fill out together
AAP Family Media Plan
American Academy of Pediatrics tool for building a household plan together, room by room and screen by screen.
eSafety Commissioner (Australia)—Family Tech Agreement
A downloadable family tech-agreement template from Australia's online-safety regulator—same shape as the AAP plan, written to work for any household.
WHO—Helping Adolescents Thrive
The World Health Organization's framework for adolescent well-being—strategies for parents, educators, and health workers, written for a global audience.
Family guidance and conversation tools
Common Sense Media—Parents' Guide to Social Media
Plain-language explainers, age-by-age guidance, and reviews of the apps teens actually use.
Internet Matters (UK)
UK-based equivalent of Common Sense Media—app-by-app guides, age-by-age advice, and practical online-safety tools for parents.
ConnectSafely Parent Guides
Short, practical guides to specific apps and online-safety topics, written for non-technical caregivers.
Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI)
Research, policy work, and family resources focused on a culture of responsibility in the connected world.
Children and Screens
Research-backed resources from the Institute of Digital Media and Child Development on how screens shape child development, with practical guidance for parents and educators.
Screen Sanity
Parent-to-parent guidance—conversation starters, family templates, and decision frameworks for navigating screens at every age.
Divine is in the app stores. If you want to try it alongside your teen, start here.
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