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Screenblock™
rations your children's screen time.

 

 

  

 

Academic tools

 

We have built some software tools into Screenblock that we hope will be of some assistance to academics in their research.  These tools are free and may be downloaded from this web site.

 

Screenblock - Viewing log facility

The Screenblock unit measures the current being taken by a TV that is plugged into its lockable power socket. This means that it can sense when the TV is being watched as opposed to off or in standby.  While the allowance is being used, Screenblock keeps a tally of the time watched in any given hour of the day. It maintains 24 numbers, one for each hour of the day. The numbers increase for each minute of TV watched. This facility allows the analysis of the total number of hours watched over a period, and also a breakdown of which hours are the most popular for watching TV.  A software package is available (for Windows 98, 2000 or XP) which can interrogate Screenblocks and collect viewing data. The data are displayed as a histogram in the application itself, and are automatically copied onto the Windows clipboard ready for pasting into a spreadsheet application. 24 cells of the spreadsheet are filled in one row, each cell being the cumulative number of minutes of TV watched for that hour.  The allowance given may be chosen, from 2 hours per day up to 24 hours per day, for a non-intrusive measurement.

 

Some points on the functions:

  • All Screenblocks when they leave the factory will have the log set to zero.

  • As a child watches TV, the minutes are counted. At any time the log can be read by a computer program by connecting Screenblock to a PC.

  • Twenty four values are read back from the Screenblock by the PC. Each value is the total number of minutes of allowance used up during that hour. So, if a child has a Screenblock for one day, and watches solidly from 8 till 10:30 in the morning and from 5 to 8 at night, the data will be as follows:

  • 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,60,60,30,0,0,0,0,0,0,60,60,60,0,0,0,0

  • By the end of a week with exactly regular viewing, the data will be:

  • 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,420,420,210,0,0,0,0,0,0,420,420,420,0,0,0,0

  • Each value can reach just over 65,000 before it goes back to 0 again - more than 1,000 hours viewing in any one hour of the day.

  • A memo field is available so that test location and parameters may be recorded within Screenblock.

  • The computer program can set all values back to the beginning again at the end of a particular trial.

  • Values are retained even if the power to Screenblock is switched off.

  • This facility will be included in versions 6 and above. (Look for SB 6 on the display when powering up with the lid off).

Example of application screen: