Verizon Consumer CEO: Family first, phones second - Holiday Rules of Engagement

Managing your children’s screen time is a never-ending balancing act. Smartphones can help children with their studies, and keep kids connected with friends and family, but too much screen time can be unhealthy.

As we head into the busy and often stressful holiday season, screen-time rules can easily slip. So instead of offering you lots of tips on how to limit phone use, we’ve created a simple guide:

Holiday Rules of Engagement: The 4 Fs

Verizon’s Holiday Rules of Engagement are designed to help strike a balance between technology and human connection by focusing on the four Fs:

Food,

Friends,

Family and

Football.

Comida

Did you set screen time limits for your family and then suddenly realize you need to use your device to look up the temperature to cook holiday brussel sprouts? Instead of sneaking into a closet to hide while you search online, consider using your screen time for recipes, grocery lists and food conversions.

Amigos

Our phones help connect us to those we love most and help spread holiday cheer. Whether you share photos of your winter-themed tablescape, let your children post the neighborhood’s lights displays, or video call a classmate to wish them happy holidays, focus on activities that enhance real-life connections and bring holiday cheer to friends and family. 

Familiar

If grandma and grandpa can’t make the holiday festivities this year, video calls can bridge the distance. In fact, 86% of caregivers say their phones help them feel connected to family when they’re not physically together. Using devices to stay connected with family during the holidays can have a positive impact.

Football

Watching football or checking in on your favorite team is practically a Thanksgiving tradition, helping everyone fight off that post-feast drowsiness. For fantasy football fans, using their phones to track stats and league standings is a fun way to stay connected with friends and family, even during the holiday hustle.

All screen time is not created equal

The four Fs can be a helpful framework to navigate device usage during the holidays, but it’s just a guide.

Understanding how others navigate their relationships with devices can also help this holiday season. A recent poll* of parents and caregivers nationwide found that:

• A majority of caregivers (87%) believe that it’s important for children to unplug from their phones for blocks of time.
• 60% of parents or caregivers prohibit screen time after a certain time of night, while 58% don’t allow phones during meals. 
• Among current caregivers to children, 2 in 5 caregivers (43%) place limits on their children's internet & browser activity, while just over a third (35%) set limits around gaming.

Rules are important, but so is context. Limits matter, but so does intention. How and why you and your children use your devices during the holiday season and throughout the year matters as much as when and how often you use your phone.

To learn more about how to manage your family's relationship with technology:

Keep talking offline and stay more aware online with Verizon Family.

This poll was conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Verizon between September 20 - 24, 2024 among a sample of 2,000 parents or caregivers. The interviews were conducted online and the data was weighted to approximate a target population based on gender, age, educational attainment, race/ethnicity, and region. Results among the full sample have a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points.