Screen time · part of Parentech
"An hour of homework" was forty minutes of YouTube.
You can't argue with a feeling. "I was mostly doing homework" is true from the inside and false from the outside, and neither of you has the number. So the argument goes in circles. A screen-time app that counts the whole day hands you one big scary total and nothing you can do with it.
7 days free · then $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year for every computer in the house
What happens instead
Parentech counts active time per site. Only the tab in front. Only while someone is actually at the keyboard. Paused the moment the screen goes idle. Today and the last seven days, sorted by where the time actually went. It stays on the computer, so it's a number you put on the table between you and your kid, not a report to anyone else.
Exactly what it does
- Counts only the active tab in the focused Chrome window, and stops after a minute of no keyboard or mouse.
- Groups time by site, per day, for the last 30 days.
- Shows today's total and top sites in the toolbar popup, and the full list with a seven-day chart in the dashboard.
- Ignores Chrome's own pages and the new-tab page.
- Can be paused or cleared by a parent at any time.
Setting it up
Three steps.
1
Nothing to set up. It starts counting once Parentech is installed and the parent has signed in.
2
Open the toolbar popup for today's total, or the Screen time section in the dashboard for the week.
3
Turn it off under Screen time if you would rather not count.
What it will not do
Said plainly.
- It counts Chrome on that computer, not the phone, not the tablet, not the television.
- It counts attention, not playback. A video playing in a background tab does not count.
- The totals stay on the computer and are shown only there. They are not synced to your account or to your phone.
Questions parents ask
Before you install.
- Does it count time when the video is just playing?
- No. It counts only while Chrome is the focused window and someone is at the keyboard or mouse. A minute of no activity pauses the count.
- Can I see it on my phone?
- Not today. Screen-time totals are kept on the child's computer and shown in Parentech there. Class reports, which include time on task, do sync to your phone.
- How far back does it go?
- Thirty days, then the oldest day is dropped.
- Can my child clear it?
- Clearing needs the parent PIN.