Reuters
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
- YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has spoken about how she regulates her five kids' screen time.
- Wojcicki said she takes their phones away, particularly on vacation, to help them focus on the "present."
- She added that she wants her kids to be responsible for how much time they spend on their phones and learn "self-control methods."
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YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has admitted that she takes her children's phones away during battles to regulate their screen time.
Wojcicki, who runs a platform designed to keep people glued to content, said in a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian that it is important for her five kids to focus on the "present."
"People need to learn when it is a time [to be] focused in the conversation, and when it is OK to go and watch videos or do other activities on the internet," she said.
To this end, Wojcicki said taking their phones away can be effective. "I have times when I take away all my kids' phones, especially if we're on a family vacation because I want people to interact with each other," she said. "So, I take away their phones and say: 'We're all going to focus on being present today.'"
In the past, Wojcicki has admitted that this is not always an easy task. Her five children age from four to late teens and she told the Belfast Telegraph in 2017: "We spend as much time as other parents taking their phones away from our kids, saying... 'No phones at the dinner table!'"
The YouTube CEO said, however, that she wants her kids to be responsible for how much time they spend on their phones and learn "self-control methods."
She explained: "TV was the same when I was growing up. I was taught that, sure, some TV is enjoyable, but it needs to be balanced with sports, school, homework, reading and other activities."
Asked how old children should be before they are given a phone, she said around 11 makes sense. "There are moments when it becomes important for them to have a phone," she added. "I think middle school is a reasonable point to start educating them about it, but also a lot of times you can take it away."
Wojcicki is not the only tech CEO to talk about how they monitor their kids' screen time. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said last year that he and his wife Miranda Kerr impose a limit of an hour and a half of screen time per week on their seven-year-old child.