Customer Reviews

BOB - Screen Time Manager - Manage Your TV Time

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

BOB has brought peace in our house when it comes to watching TV. Our 2 kids would watch TV as soon as they came home from school to "unwind", but it was very difficult to get them to shut it off and start homework. Even when it was possible the kids would be in a whiny mood which made studying difficult. Our kids are old enough (10 & 12) that once you left the room for a few minutes they would stop the homework, walk into the room with the TV, & turn it back on. Finishing their homework got later into the evening specially when there was extra curricular activities that night (volleyball, karate, or Cub Scouts).

We purchased two BOBs (one for each TV) and they are pretty simple to set up. BOB controls the power to the TV set. So first you unplug your TV from the outlet and connect it into the small plastic power box attached to BOB. Then lock it with the key & put the key away somewhere safe. The BOB power cord is now plugged into the wall. Next, set a 4 digit master password for you, & set the current day & time. Then set a 4 digit password for each child, the amount of time each child can watch TV & "blocks" which are times when they cannot watch TV. You can limit any user's time by day or by week, but not both. For example, we allow 1 hour of TV per day in the living room and have blocked TV from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm. on school days because that is homework time. Since they can't watch TV when they come home from school they have figured out they might as well get their homework done then. On weekends they can watch 2 hours of TV each day. There is an audible warning that starts when 60 seconds of time are left.

BOB has helped to reduce the stress tremendously in our family & overall we are happy with it. It only took about 10 minutes to set up and everything is menu driven on a 4 line LCD display. You use the arrow keys, enter button, and numbers to enter the info. You can also add or subtract time on the fly using "fly time". Basically while your son or daughter are watching TV you touch a special key sequence, enter the master password, and enter or subtract time in 15 minute increments.

One minor grip is that I wish it was more flexible. For example, if we want to keep our current TV limits until 6 pm on school night it worked fine, but if our son is done with his homework early and wants to watch TV at 5:00 it's not easy to do this. You cannot user "fly time" because the user must be logged on to BOB, and they cannot log on since the time is blocked. The only way I found was to use by master password to turn it on for him.

Here's the link to the user manual if interested http://usebob.com/pdfs/BOBUserManual.pdf

Bob's the best! No more arguing over media time -- all video games, dvds and television shows go through this simple device. Bob is very easy to set up and use. Each user has an unique code, so one child can't "use up" all the time allocated for t.v. One of my children would use all their weekly time in one day, so I am able to set up his account by the day. My daughter, on the other hand, can monitor herself so much better that we set her account up by the week.

Bob arrived at our house a few weeks ago.

My kids think he's a bad guy because he's always turning off the computer right in the middle of their games.

But they're quickly learning to work with Bob. To negotiate for more time or to limit themselves to the hour or two that Bob gives them.

Bob is a TV Time Manager. And it's not really a guy. It's this small electronic device that you plug into your TV, computer, or videogame into, and then you can set specific time limits and time blocks for up to six different children.

In our house we don't have a problem with the kids watching too much TV, as they only turn it on by themselves on Saturday and Sunday mornings when they're allowed to watch DVD cartoons for an hour or two. So far they've been good about regulating themselves on that.

What we do have a problem with is computer games. My son, especially, likes to play games at the free online sites, like NeoPets and Yahoo Games. We give him an hour a day, usually just after dinner. But that hour goes quickly, and he's so caught up in the action that he forgets the time.

That's where Bob comes in. For computers, you can plug the monitor's electrical cord into Bob, which has a locked outlet so the kids can't simply plug the cord back into the wall outlet. Then your child types in his own 4-digit pin number, and Bob will turn the monitor on for the amount of time the child is allowed. When the alloted time is just about up, Bob gives a 60-second countdown, so your child knows he'd better finish up the game.

You can also set up time blocks when Bob will refuse to accept a PIN, so your kids can't play games or watch TV during hours of the day when they should be doing other things.

It's all worked wonderfully with our son. He has no reason to complain, because we all agreed on how much time he would have on the computer each night. I don't have to watch the clock, and my son is learning a little something about time management.

Bob has an extremely simple interface. It's easy to use, and easy for the kids to understand. They can see right on the screen how much time they've used. Parents can give more time as a reward, or take away time as a punishment.

I cannot say much more than has already been stated in previous reviews.

I will instead focus on WHY NOT to use this device with the PC.

1st - This device will not gently shut down your PC. It shuts it off cold. Which slams your hard drive and creates damage little by little and eventually permanent corruption of the hard drive!

2nd - Get a software solution like Net Nanny and/or Time Boss. Both should be used together since neither provides a total solution in most people's cases when dealing with teenagers with computers in their rooms. With both...internet surfing is limited and filtered and time limits and 'block out' time is easily handled too.

3rd - Most computer power supply cables can be removed and swapped out easily with another cable...bypassing BOB. These cables can be easily purchased at Target, Wal-Mart and Radio Shack for less than $5. So, any kid can get one!

For your PC...use a software solution.

For TV and gaming consoles, use BOB.

Multiple pediatric studies link excessive television to later development of obesity, ADHD, insomnia, and various other emotional and behavioral disorders. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting children's television watching to one to two hours of quality programming per day. BOB is a system to help enforce these limits.

There are several advantages to using a system like this:
First, it limits our children's time on the TV even when my wife and I are not around.
Second, kids learn to manage their time themselves. If they watch too much early in the week then they run out of minutes until the timer resets at the end of the week.
Lastly, we spend less time yelling at our kids to turn off the TV. The box does the job for us.

Does it really work? It does in our family. My wife was initially quite skeptical but now loves the system. Our kids accepted the limits pretty quickly.

Our first electronic system to limit our kid's TV was the "TV Allowance". That device is a nice idea, but poorly implemented and much too complicated. I'm a technophile but I was usually confused. BOB is a clear improvement: Easier to use, Better display, More flexible (can program for hours per day or per week.)

The only Con I can think of is no battery back up.

If only it could limit the TV to "Quality" programs!

I bought Bob, and I thought it was working fine. But my thirteen-year-old son had simply unscrewed it and pried it a little. (Maybe he was twelve when he did it; who knows how long Bob had been compromised?) He made Bob look like it was working, but he was taking the plug out of the back whenever he wanted to.

My kid has no great talent when it comes to taking things apart. This product allowed him to use the TV for quite a while without my knowledge. I threw the thing away.

I like this product for the most part; however, when the power goes out, you have to reset the time. This is a pain if you have multiple BOBs in your home. Also, I wish there was a way to quickly add time for time earned. This device lets you setup a daily or weekly time allowance. Not so good for adding time on the fly based on earning it.

Another negative is if you have guests, you have to provide them with a PIN in order to watch your TV. That is not real convenient. I don't know any way around this.

Like I said, overall a good product, but could use some improvements. Like a place for a battery backup for when the power goes out and the ability to add earned time on the fly.

Donna

I Love BOB.

I researched all the time management devices and chose BOB. I've owned and used BOB for 8 months now and am very happy with the purchase. It does everything it says it does. It also helps the kid organize their time better. We only give each child 1 hour and 4 minutes and it makes them plan and organize and be aware of their television viewing, especially if there is a show on that they really want to watch. There is never any arguing anymore and we don't have to constantly check up on the kids every half hour (they are 10 and 11) and tell them to play outside or go to bed. It is really useful on the weekends when the kids are allowed to stay up later and we go to bed early. We can be assured they are not on the television all night and still get our rest. It also helps us during summer days when we are outside doing yardwork, BOB insures that the kids aren't coming back in the back door and watching t.v. instead of getting exercise by playing in the sun (kids can be sneaky). It is very sturdy and works well PLUS BOB IS THE ONLY TIME MANAGEMENT DEVICE THAT WILL WORK ON LARGE TV'S OR BIG FLATSCREENS. We have it hooked up to a 42 inch Samsung Flat Panel and it works flawlessly. I have it connected just to the tv because as long as the tv is under control, it controls the Nintendo Wii, tv viewing and DVD instead of having it control all. This also insures that my TIVO still is on and records my shows but turns off the t.v so the kids can't watch anything once they use up their time. You can also get reports from it and analyze the tv viewing and it lets you know when the kids are trying to break into it by attempted hacking. I haven't found any complaints. I lost the master code once and called customer service and they were really helpful and courteous. They solved my problem quickly. This is a great product and worth every penny (even though I got it on sale for nearly half off! yay me.)

I have had the privelage of using one of the first BOBs and have been truly impressed. My kids were watching too much TV. WIth BOB, I've managed to decrease their TV time from 20 hours per week to 10. And the arguements have ended! They manage their own time and BOB enforces it. I don't need to worry about them sitting in front of the TV watching endlessly. BOB also works really well with computers. It's given me peace of mind knowing that they are not Internet surfing late at night after I've gone to sleep. BOB is simple to set-up and simple to use! Everyone should have one.

New TVs comes with a power cord which can be removed and replaced. So how do you control if you Teen bypower cord by replacing the TV power cord. Good for TVs with a fixed power cord.