Not sure why devices are needed to limit or control screen time. Just say no. Set the limits yourself. Our house rule for phones was on the charger (in the kitchen) at 9 pm school nights, 10 pm weekends. Now that laptops/tablets are required during the middle school years I’d have the same rule for those. The video games and desktop computers were kept in the living room or den. I approved (or not) all video games that came into the house, same with DVD movies. D never had much use for video games or such but loved her television…limited to one hour per night on school nights, and after chores done/before noon and after 6 pm on weekends. Son loved his video games, same limits. Its really not that hard to do.
@nepatsgirl… I must be a failure as a parent compared to you… 
We had the same issues as the OP. My wise child explained to me it was a stress reliever for him. He went to a very competitive high school like number 1 in our state so we fell for that. We told him if his grades fell it would be taken away… Of course they never did. He showed me an article about kids gaming and getting to different levels and how engineering programs actually liked that from a few years ago… Lol. It was also a social thing as he played in teams with other school kids. God forbid they actually played these in the same room, like together… Ha…
He is in college for engineering. Brought his Playstation with approval of both roommates each year (he is a sophomore) and uses it for gaming but also Hulu etc and still says its a stress reliever. His grades are where they should be for engineering at a top school and he is very active on campus. Even said he doesn’t have a lot of time now for gaming etc due to his other EC activities.
But we see him and my 21 year old daughter like go from phone to iPad to something else all day. It can’t be good for them. My daughter is home on college break like my son and just likes to catch up on Netflix on her iPad.
I guess we had a win though. We saw the Queen movie as a family in like a real theater…
There are other forms of stress relief they should learn.
@Knowsstuff sorry if I offended. Good to hear that your S is doing well. I understand that there are hordes of kids who are glued to video games and other devices who do quite well in college. I don’t pretend that at late high school and college that I could or even wanted to control what my kids did with their free time but I will say that in my experience if limits are set at an early age, the “cravings” for screentime in later years is decreased because these same kids learn to use their time differently, including fresh air, exercise, face to face socializing, community activities and volunteering. My D still struggles with the balance of television and these other things, and finds tv relaxing and a way to de-stress so I get it.
@nepatsgirl… My comments were tongue in cheek… Didn’t offend at all.
Interesting thing though he is really into augmented reality to the point that he started a club, got grants and did research and putting on a conference at Michigan in the spring… Just another electronic medium with headsets and computers… Just hope that doesn’t find to cause brain damage later on…
Great discussion and ideas.
My son loved his Christmas gifts and he is spending a lot of time with the family. We are streaming The OA, Mrs. Maisel and watching some family movies.
Also, he and I have now completed two games of Terraforming Mars. Such an excellent game. Each session is around three hours. It’s great dad and son time and lets the ladies in the house have time for themselves too.
Luckily I have a bright and engaging son. He is quite amiable to interacting with the family. It seems that it’s all about providing worthy alternatives to electronics.
I liked one suggestion, working out together. He and I could use that and his mother is a gym rat. Physical activity would open up a lot of options for us.
Have a great holiday season with your families.
I was doing p90x a few years back. My son saw me doing it and joined in. He liked it and kept it up for awhile. He went at his own pace. Kids will sorta copy your behavior… Especially at his age. Once they get older like mine they seem to want to make their own decisions… Lol… Like their becoming adults or something… 
My nephew is an example of everything that can go wrong when you don’t exert the right sorts of parental influence (and I do mean limits.) Playing together is the least of it.