The only way to reduce your family’s screen time?

Divine intervention.

At least, that’s how it feels.

But even if you can successfully lure your kids away from their screens, as mothers, minimizing our screen time is tough because of how much home-running and family management happens via typing, swiping, tapping on our phones.

My friend Umaima said it best in her recent guest post for ammi.ai:

Umaima discovered that certain AI apps and features helped her reduce screen time, and I can attest to this phenomenon 😁 

If cutting back on phone time is your New Year's resolution, here are some AI tips that worked for this Ammi!

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5 Ways I Cut Screen Time with AI

1. Using Voice-to-Text to instruct AI chatbots

   

   It’s great to have powerful AI helpers like ChatGPT ready to assist us at all times. But typing detailed instructions - or prompts - for AI can be challenging when bouncing a baby on your hip or trying to power through a chaotic morning routine.

   Most AI chatbots have a voice-to-text feature on their mobile apps. Instead of typing, tap the microphone icon in the chat box and speak your instructions to the AI.

   For example, if you're in the kitchen and need ideas on what to cook, you can open ChatGPT, tap the little mic icon, and say, “I have garlic, some herbs that are about to go bad, and heavy cream. What can I make?” ChatGPT might suggest some sort of pesto pasta recipe that uses nuts. If one of your kids is allergic to nuts, you can tap the mic and ask for a substitute or a different recipe. This way, you can go back and forth with the AI without typing.

2. Keeping screen-free entertainment ideas in my back pocket

   

   Here’s a startling statistic (that I made up, but it’s probably true): crippling boredom affects 5 out of 5 young children daily.

   Combat “Ammi, I’m bored” before it even happens. Ask ChatGPT for screen-free activity ideas based on your children’s interests and your current circumstances. For example: “Give me a list of five screen-free activities for two preschoolers on a cold rainy day. Make them minimal effort and use things already available at home."

   We’ve replaced screen time during meals with AI-generated stories featuring my kids’ favorite characters. I’ll usually read through the story before mealtime and tell it by memory while we eat!

   P.S. This was inspired by @alifnoon53 on Instagram!

3. Researching and planning with AI-powered search

   

   With all the continuous research Ammis are doing, I say we should all be given honorary PhDs. From mysterious medical symptoms to finding the right extracurriculars to planning family vacations, we spend a lot of time perusing the web to provide the best for our families.

   AI-powered search tools like Perplexity AI help with research by providing up-to-date information in a format of your choice. Instead of sifting through multiple search results, Perplexity provides direct answers to a question or set of instructions and cites sources.

   I recently planned a 4-day holiday using Perplexity AI in less than 30 minutes by providing information about our vacation destination, group, and preferences!

4. Creating printable spreadsheets and documents with AI

   

   Despite using ChatGPT to get a lot done, I found myself constantly referring back to the app and scrolling to find lists, plans, and ideas that were buried in the app.

   Not enough people talk about this: ChatGPT can create documents and spreadsheets for you.

   If you have asked ChatGPT to create or draft something for you, like a meal plan or family budget, go one step further and ask it to make a document or spreadsheet. You can download it, edit it to your liking, and save it from digital doom by printing it out!

5. Writing with my voice

   

   This is the original Audiopen draft of this newsletter. I wrote it while on a walk with my kids!

   My #1 most-used AI tool is also the one that has saved me well over a thousand hours of screen time over the last 1.5 years. Yep. You read that right.

   It’s called Audiopen*, and it turns rambling into clean, ready-to-share text. I use my voice to write text messages, emails, newsletters, Instagram captions, AI prompts, journal entries, blab out random ideas that strike me at the craziest times, and more. Thanks to this app, I have almost completely replaced typing with talking.

   To be clear, I almost always have to tweak the output a little and very occasionally, a lot. But as a nursing mom who really wants to avoid being on my phone around my kids, this app is my best friend.

   Here are ten ways I have used Audiopen to slash my screen time (and my mental load!)

   *affiliate link!

I know it’s a bit ironic that AI could help solve our screen time problem.

After all, AI algorithms that drive doom-scrolling on TikTok and Instagram or binging on Netflix and YouTube have created the screen time despair that plagues families everywhere.

But we can fight fire with fire!

Mothers can use generative AI to offload tedious, screen-intensive tasks so that we can enjoy screen-free time for ourselves and their families.

This is the kind of healthy relationship with AI I think we can all get behind.