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in Technology

How to manage your kids devices and pause the internet!

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free for this How to manage your kids devices and pause the internet post. 

Circle with Disney offers parents a way to manage their children’s screen time, filter content, make sure they aren’t online instead of sleeping at bedtime, and more. The Circle device itself costs $99 and nothing more to set up and use on your home WiFi network. You can actually pause the internet use on a device- no matter where you are, via the Circle app.

You can use Circle with Disney to reward kids for things- a kid who really struggles with reading, perhaps, might sit and read with no fuss for 30 minutes- maybe you allow an extra 30 minutes of game time. Alternately, if you find yourself perhaps needing a consequence or that the kids are simply not doing what you asked and are spending their summer vacation days online and connected, pop open the app and hit that pause button (see below).

Blogger spouses everywhere may also use this feature to get their spouses offline and in line with their families- I know I’m guilty of checking email or socials far too often, either for clients, sponsors, or new campaigns coming in. I know it frustrates my family, and I try to be aware, but you know what? Even parents need a time out reminder sometimes! I should reword the first sentence of this post to say that Circle with Disney offers families a way to manage their family screen time, period.

Circle with Disney does a lot.
It helps to manage all of your home’s connected devices. One thing I really like is that you can set times for different ages- so if your 9 year old and 12 year old both have their own tablets, each can be ‘assigned’ their tablet in Circle and you can tick off what’s appropriate for each age. This alone would make my life easier because mine are 7, 9 and 11 right now, but none has their “own” device so we try to set things in the middle of controls. Everyone can have their own part of the Circle and have devices assigned to them. You’ll notice in the photo that ours simply reads “kids.”
BedTime!  You can see above that the bedtime is set for 10 pm. During the school year, it’s much earlier, but we’re at the start of summer. Once 10pm hits, they aren’t getting onto the device…and it’s not a back and forth negotiation or stall tactic.  It’s not working again until awake time (which is set for 8 am). Kids can also check via the Circle website how much time they have until bedtime – or how much time they’ve been on a site that has limits.
My husband has requested that I set the bedtime for myself on my phone, and that will be happening tonight.  Far too many evenings I start doing some interaction on Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter, only to find that an hour + has passed and I’m reinforcing a bad habit of using the phone in bed. It’s SO EASY to get lost in our devices, on the internet- maybe setting those bedtime limits should be for ALL of us.
Time Limits offer the ability to limit time for different platforms, apps, and categories, painlessly. Your little Minecraft creator may love to spend hours on end in her world, but once that 1 hour mark hits, that’s it for the day. *You CAN allow for them to earn extra time, via chores or whatever…but again– it’s done via the Circle app that YOU control, not them! Mine mostly are into watching how to stuff on YouTube of late, but as many of us know, 5 minutes can easily turn into 2 hours… Limits can be set by app, platform, or a total number for the day!
Set filters: This is where parents with kids who have their own devices will be happy. You can set individual filter levels for each family member based on age and interest. It follows their piece of the Circle in your home, so if your child buys their own tablet but also has a phone (using wifi while home), those filters follow your child, not the device.
This is kind of nice because the older siblings who maybe get stuck watching “baby” shows when the littler kids choose things can have a little more access to shows they might be more interested in watching- and your 7 year old isn’t going to accidentally watch something like Twilight on her tablet.
Pause: You can pause from anywhere, anytime, via the app. Have a kid not wanting to do homework before watching some videos? Or do you need everyone downstairs for a family meeting? Click pause. They’ll notice!
Insights– This is a cool thing that also surprised me. We haven’t had our Circle with Disney for long enough to really see things, but I think, for example, when we look at how much internet time was spent at the end of summer, it’ll be an eye opener for all of us. Seeing the minutes and hours that we use can really be a conversation starter about being productive with time, balancing activities including online things, and more. Insights can be done for days, weeks and months. You can look by sites, by interests, and more.
Want 24/7 access, regardless of where your kids and their phones happen to be? Look at Circle Go. Circle Go takes all of the settings your kids’ devices have at home and extends them to 4G LTE and any other Wi-Fi network they join. There’s a nominal fee each month for the Circle Go subscription, but you can also add up to 10 devices on your account for moderation.
 

Find out more about Circle with Disney and Circle Go at your local Best Buy or online at BestBuy.com. 

What are your thoughts on how to manage your kids devices and pause the internet? Share in the comments below!

About Brett

I'm a 40 something lifestyle blogger living in Connecticut with my husband and our 3 kids, plus our two rescue pups. We love to hike, travel, play games, watch movies, and just be outside together! Having 3 active kids makes for a hectic schedule and I try to share content, recipes and other things that can help to make today's busy family life simpler, easier, or just plain more fun!

I started working full time at a local middle school in fall 2021 and some of my students are insistent that I am mean.

Comments

  2. Mimi Green says

    This is the most strict filter setting device I’ve ever seen. The system I was using before is nothing compared to this. I need to get with the Circle.

  3. HilLesha says

    I love Circle with Disney! It is beneficial in helping me in filtering out unsavory content as well as having my children take a break from their devices.

  4. Mary Edwards says

    I love this! So needed for the teens and tweens in my house. Circle sounds great.

  7. Victoria Heckstall says

    Circle would be perfect to my nephews and nieces! It’s really hard to limit their devices especially at night.

  8. Karlyn Cruz says

    Circle is really amazing and perfect for kids! It would be easier as a mom to limit or manage their apps and devices.

  9. Heather says

    I think that’s great. It’s funny my kids listen to alarms and charts and things like this without complaint more than they listen to my own voice. This would be great for our family.

  11. Kiwi says

    Summer is out and kids are entertaining themselves with a lot of devices. It does need to be monitored or they will become internet junkies so good there is something like this to help track and control usage for kids.

  15. Jeni says

    With so many devices that can help monitor screen time, it’s really difficult to know which ones work and which ones you can trust. I love that Circle carries the Disney name which makes it a no brainer when it comes to dealing with screen time management.

  16. Marysa says

    I would love one of these! As much as I try to monitor screen time, it is just a difficult thing to do. I have to constantly keep up with remembering things like time limits.

  17. Joely Smith says

    I have heard so many glowing reviews and comments about this product! I totally think it is worth the small monthly fee too with all of the benefits you get from it!

  18. Claudia Krusch says

    Circle with Disney is an amazing product. It will be so helpful this summer with the kids. I will have to share this with all my friends with kids.

  20. candy says

    This is the third time I have seen something about this Circle thing. Sounds like a great thing to control and keep track of what everyone is doing on the electronics.

    • Brett says

      We really really love it. I even gave myself a bedtime so I’m not tempted to stay up till 2 am working social media stuff.

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