Resource Center
Summer is Here - So is Screen-time Excess
Summer time doesn’t have to mean screen bingeing time but this does require a deliberate effort to keep children occupied with life enriching off screen and out to the house activities.
Limit Settings for Screen Devices
Children want to play and setting screen time limits is hard. Major health institutions provide little parental guidance and according to the CDC, children 11-14 in the US are spending nearly 9 hours a day on screens for entertainment. Clinical psychologist and Sentinel co-founder Dr. Kenneth Woog explains what research tells us about what are unsafe use levels and makes screen-time limit recommendations for video watching, gaming and social media.
The Vicious Media Cycle
A large scale meta-analysis reviewing 117 longitudinal studies reported what we already know. Excess screen time can result in socioemotional difficulties and socioemotional difficulties can result in excess screen time. A Media Cycle of Dependency was developed many years ago to inform prevention and treatment of screen time excess.
Child Safety vs. First Amendment - Again
On June 3, 2025 a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction against Florida, temporarily blocking a bill signed into law by Governor Ron Desantis in 2024 that restricted access to social media to children in his state under the age of 16. Here we go again!
The ongoing debate of this and similar cases demonstrates the complexity of navigating multiple sides of the political, ideological, technical and commercial landscape of our increasingly online world. This news and opinion article explores the causes and possible solutions to clearing the roadblocks and to help parents keep their children safe on social media platforms.
Prescription for Loneliness?
Dr. Vivek Murthy, former US Surgeon General, shared on Meet the Press that loneliness is an epidemic among young people today. If parents delay the introduction of the smartphone, limit entertainment screen time and enrich their children’s lives off screen, can that make a difference? Sentinel Computers believes the LaunchPad can assist parents do exactly that and meet the moment of crisis in America.
Resource Center
Welcome to the new Resource Center for Sentinel Computers. This blog site is a place for updates, news and commentary on recent developments related to screen time safety and wellbeing. The Resource Center is intended for parents, health professionals, educators, journalists and those struggling with problematic screen time use.