Screen Time and Device Log

Who this is for

What was watched or played, by whom, on what, for how long. Each line takes the minutes you write and compares them with the limit your household agreed for that line, if there is one. The sheet totals the minutes and counts what went over. It does not say what a limit ought to be, because that is not its business.

Households that have agreed something about screens and want to see whether it is happening, parents sharing devices between children, and anyone curious where the evenings go.

What this helps you track

• Which device was used, by whom and for what
• When it started and how many minutes it ran
• The limit your household set for that use, if you set one
• How far over or under that limit each line came
• Total minutes for the period, by whoever reads the summary

How to use it

1. Write the household, the period and what you agreed about screens at the top, in your own words.
2. Add a line each time a device is used: the date, who, which device and what it was for.
3. Write the start time as you would say it, and the minutes as a number — the sheet works from the minutes, not the time.
4. Put your agreed limit in the limit column where one applies and leave it blank where it does not; the over or under column is worked out in the browser and the workbook.
5. Read the totals at the foot and the summary at the end of the period, and talk about what they show rather than what the sheet thinks — it thinks nothing.
6. Start a fresh sheet each period and keep the old ones if a pattern is what you are after.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How much screen time is too much?

This sheet does not say and carries no figure. Whatever your household has agreed goes in the limit column, and the arithmetic is done against that. If the pattern on the page worries you, that is a conversation for a professional, not a template.

Do I have to fill in a limit for every line?

No. Leave it blank and the over or under column shows nothing for that line. Some households set a limit for games and none for homework, and the sheet copes.

Why minutes rather than a start and finish time?

Because the total has to work on paper, in the workbook and in the browser without anyone converting times. Write the start time for the record and the minutes for the arithmetic.

Can adults log their own use?

Yes. The who column takes any name, and plenty of households find the adults' rows the most interesting.

Does it track apps or content?

Only in the words you write in the what column. It is a written log, not a monitor, and it records what somebody chose to put down.