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Can You Reboot Your Family’s Screen Rules Before Going Back to School?

Offline.now experts say the week before school resumes is the perfect time to reset kids’ sleep, focus and screen habits starting with what parents model.

Dec 30, 2025

2 min

Craig SelingerMark Diamond

As kids head back to school after the holidays, many parents notice the same pattern: bedtimes drifted, screens crept into bedrooms, and mornings feel like a battle.


Executive Function Coach Craig Selinger and Personal Development Coach Mark Diamond, both experts in the Offline.now directory, say the answer is yes; but only if families treat the last week of break as a “tech reset,” not just a scramble for school supplies.


Selinger points out that today’s devices are structurally different from the TV many parents grew up with:


“Phones and tablets are more addicting than the old living-room TV. There’s no natural ending — no episode, no credits, no ‘we’re done now.’ When the ‘TV’ lives in your child’s pocket, transitions to homework or sleep become a lot harder.”


That matters because late-night screen habits have real consequences in the classroom. Reviews of adolescent media use consistently link bedtime and late-evening screen time with shorter sleep, poorer sleep quality, and worse next-day functioning; including attention, memory and mood that kids need to learn.


On top of that, education and cognition research shows that media multitasking: juggling schoolwork with notifications, chats, and apps is associated with reduced sustained attention and weaker academic performance.


Diamond, who ran a tech-free summer camp for 25 years, has seen how quickly kids’ brains and behavior respond when screens are dialed down and real-world activity is dialed up:


“At camp, we watched kids go from anxious and distracted to confident and connected in a matter of days — without phones. Outdoor play, hands-on projects, chores, even just walking and talking with friends reset their mood and focus in a way no app can.”


“Micro-routines make a macro difference,” says Diamond. “If you reclaim just an hour a day from screens for real-world activity, most kids feel the change in their bodies and brains within a week.”


Selinger adds that the reset only sticks when adults go first:


“You can’t tell a teen to stop scrolling at 11 p.m. while you’re answering work email in bed. Kids are watching how we transition off our own screens. If parents lead by example, the new school rules stop feeling like punishment and start feeling like the new normal.”


For journalists covering back-to-school, kids’ mental health, learning and technology, this story connects the dots between holiday screen creep, sleep, attention, and how a simple, family-led “tech reset week” can set kids up to actually learn once they’re back in class.


Featured Experts

  • Craig Selinger, M.S., CCC-SLP – Executive Function Coach and child development specialist (Brooklyn Letters). He focuses on how kids actually learn, and how digital dependency, sleep loss and multitasking erode attention and academic skills.
  • Mark Diamond – Personal Development Coach and former director of a tech-free summer camp. He specializes in outdoor wellness, behavior change, and helping families translate “camp magic” into everyday routines at home.


Expert interviews can be arranged through the Offline.now media team.



Connect with:
Craig Selinger

Craig Selinger

Executive Function Coach, Speech-Language Pathologist, and Educational Specialist

NYC EF coach & SLP helping students & families with ADHD, autism & LD build focus, organization & communication skills.

Neuro-Affirmative ApproachesNeurodiverse LearnersExecutive FunctionSpeech-Langage PathologyEducation
Mark Diamond

Mark Diamond

Certified Professional Coach

Extensive experience and wisdom in the areas of the affect of social media on children, teens, and young adults

Conversation Skills for In-Person ReconnectionSelf-CompassionLifestyle & Self-Care HabitsDigital Parenting StrategiesPositive Psychology Coaching
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