Are your kids on Instagram/Snapchat too much?

Are your kids spending too much time on iPads, phones, or social media sites?

I may have an answer that helps.

My daughter has been asking for Snapchat and a phone recently.

Not withstanding Louis CK's view on cell phones and parenting, I was thinking about a conversation I had a few months ago with my good friend Chuck in Atlanta.

"Snapchat is evil," he said.

He has two teenagers.

It was with this in mind that I was intrigued when I heard about Circle with Disney from Rohit.

It's a $99 device that you put in your house and allows you to customize the amount of time that EACH person can use the Internet (based on which phones, etc. s/he uses) and which sites are permissible.

You can set bedtimes, wake-up times, and filters.

So there's a teen filter, a kid filter and...a "pause" button...which can shut down the connection for any device when you keep calling your kid and she doesn't respond.

I've had it for a week now....and though my kids hate it....I FREAKING LOVE IT.

Now, I don't have to monitor them and ask what they are doing...I know that if they have hit their time limit for the day (or it's after a certain time), they simply can't go online.

George Orwell would be proud.

If you find yourself saying "I'm worried that the kids are spending too much time on _____," I think this device is for you.

And yes, you can now control it when they are out of the house....
Oh...and the CircleGo subscription service so you can make sure the rules apply to the device when they aren't connected to the home wi-fi.