Wellbeing

Screens, Sleep & Study: Finding the Right Balance

Helping your teen build a healthy balance online

Managing Screen Time: What Every Family Should Know

Screens are a normal part of secondary school life — for homework, research, socialising, and downtime. But it's easy for recreational use to creep into hours that were meant for sleep, study or time with family. Here's what parents and carers should know, and how to help your teen find a healthy balance.

Why this matters Schools, health experts and government bodies increasingly agree there's no single "right" number of hours. What matters more is the balance between screen time and everything else — sleep, physical activity, face-to-face connection, and schoolwork. The eSafety Commissioner notes there's no magic figure; the right balance depends on your child's age, maturity, what they're doing online, and how it fits into their overall wellbeing.

What's changing in schools from 2027, Victorian secondary schools will be required to build planned device-free learning time into the school day, adding to the existing mobile phone ban already in place. The Department of Education is expected to release further implementation guidance later this year.

Helping your teen build a healthy balance. A few simple habits at home can make a real difference. 

According to eSafety:

• Look at quality, not just quantity. Ask what they're doing online, not just how long — passive scrolling affects wellbeing differently to gaming with friends or schoolwork.
• Watch for the warning signs. Is screen time getting in the way of sleep, exercise, or time with friends and family in person? That's a better guide than the clock.
• Set a family tech agreement. Agree on device-free times (like dinner or the hour before bed) as a household, not just a rule for your teen.
• Keep talking, not just blocking. As teens get older, open conversation about healthy habits tends to work better than restrictions alone — they're often more tech-savvy than the controls in place.
• Model it yourself. Teens notice when the rules only apply to them.

Useful resources

• eSafety Commissioner – Screen time: how much is too much?
• eSafety Commissioner – How to manage your screen time
• Department of Education, Victoria – Digital Learning Policy

Additional Parent Resource

https://raisingchildren.net.au/teens/entertainment-technology/digital-life/screen-time

Healthy screen habits work best as a partnership between home and school. By having these conversations early and often, you're helping your teen build habits that will serve them well beyond their school years.

Social Media platforms on notice

From mid-December, eSafety has been monitoring age-restricted platforms to assess how they are complying with their obligations to prevent under-16s from having accounts. It is clear the restrictions are already having an impact. Based on information gathered through legally enforceable notices, many platforms have removed, deactivated or restricted a large number of under‑age accounts. 

However, based on the information gathered, including through submissions from the public, field research with parents and carers and engagement with key stakeholders, children under 16 continue to retain accounts, create new ones, or pass platforms’ age checks.

Because of these concerns, eSafety is now focusing its investigations on five major platforms - Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. These platforms have been notified about our concerns and expectations for improvement and warned eSafety will take enforcement action if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent systemic failures that allow children under 16 from having accounts on their service.  

Major reforms like this take time – not just to embed, but to spark a broader cultural shift in how industry designs services to keep children safer online.  It won’t happen overnight, and although we can see some progress has been made, it's clear there's still a way to go.   

This update explains what eSafety has learned so far since the legislation took effect on 10 December 2025. We will continue to provide transparency where we can while protecting the integrity of our ongoing regulatory processes and provide relevant up-to-date information for the community, including children and young people, parents and carers and educators at our social media age restrictions hub. 

eSafety remains committed to holding platforms accountable, and ensuring these restrictions deliver real change for Australian families.