Document Type

Article

Author ORCID Identifier

Prakriti Dumaru  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6326-5810  

Mahdi Nasrullah Al-Ameen  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5764-2253

Journal/Book Title/Conference

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction

Volume

42

Issue

14

Publisher

Taylor & Francis Inc.

Publication Date

11-27-2025

Journal Article Version

Accepted Manuscript

First Page

11145

Last Page

11169

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Abstract

With growing concerns about children’s excessive screen time, parents often use parental control apps for mediation. However, these tools typically enforce rigid, authoritarian mediation without involving children in rule-setting, leading to resistance and increased family tension. To address these issues, inspired by Baumrind’s authoritative parenting framework, which balances structure with responsiveness, we leveraged authoritative-by-design approach in screen time mediation and evaluated it through a three-week-long field study with 15 parent-child dyads. To this end, we designed an app featuring chore-based screen time rewards, encouragement for off-screen activities and productive app use, and in-app chat for collaborative rule-setting. We compared this app with a baseline app representing conventional restrictive mediation. Participants preferred authoritative-by-design approach, citing fewer conflicts, greater child accountability, improved self-regulation, and more constructive dialogue around screen time. Our findings lead to the recommendations on redesigning parental control tools and future research on parental mediation to foster healthier family dynamics.

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