Balancing Your Time Online
Topic area
Excessive internet use
Target age group
Lesson duration
Middle Primary
Lesson Overview
Too much time spent online can negatively impact the physical and mental health of children and teens.
This lesson addresses those impacts and delivers ways to bring a healthy balance back into the lives of
young people.
This lesson includes four short activities. Teachers can select a single activity or multiple activities to
make up the recommended 45 minutes, depending on what they feel is appropriate to their class.
Lesson outcomes

Identify signs that screen use has become excessive

Assess the negative physical and mental impacts of too much time online

Take steps toward moderating screen time

Create internet usage planning
Australian Curriculum
This lesson plan module supports a number of learning areas in the Australian Curriculum, including
Health and Physical Education, Civics and Citizenship and Technologies.
Activity 1
Page
Subject focus
Group Discussion
3
Identify excessive
technology use
Activity 2
Page
Subject focus
Drawing Activity
4
Assess the impacts
of excessive internet
and technology use
Activity 3
Page
Subject focus
Personal Audit
4
Auditing time spent
online and planning
balance
Activity 4
Page
Subject focus
Group Discussion
5
Assess the impacts
of excessive internet
and technology use
Duration
Resources required
Board
Duration
Resources required
Worksheet 1, pens, coloured pencils
etc.
Duration
Resources required
Worksheet 2, Worksheet 3, pen
Duration
Resources required
Board
External links included in lesson - Nil
enquiries@esafety.gov.au
Balancing Your Time Online
Technology and Terminology referred to in this lesson
Internet, television, smartphones, tablets, laptops, online, instant messaging, webcam chatting, text
messaging, multimedia messaging, apps, ringtones, web address, pics.
This work is based on materials that constitute copyright of the Commonwealth of Australia and is
licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 2.5 Australia Licence.
See https://esafety.gov.au/about-the-office/privacy-and-legal for more information.
2
3
Balancing Your Time Online
Background
Between smartphones, tablets and laptops, children and teens are consuming many hours of
screen time a day.
Unless a good balance of time off and online can be maintained, this use can begin to feel
oppressive and excessive, and may interfere with a person’s physical and mental health.
Studies have shown a range of both positive and negative effects from increased internet use.
It is important that children learn to make suitable and conscious choices about their level of
internet use. Children often have less supervision and more control in online environments than
they would usually experience.
It is important to empower younger internet users with the tools to identify and rectify excessive or
compulsive internet use, as well as an understanding of potential consequences for their physical
or mental health which they or their peers may experience.
Balancing Your Time Online
4
Activity 1: Debating balanced use
Activity 1
Page
Subject focus
Group Discussion
3
Identify excessive
technology use
Duration
Resources required
Board
In this activity, students are asked to discuss and identify excessive technology use.
Instructions
1. Pose these questions to your students: Mums and Dads often think kids spend too much time
online - do they? Is that a bad thing? What are the good things about time spent online? What are
some of the bad things about it? Why do adults think kids spending time online can be bad if it’s
too much? What do you think is too much time?
2. As a class, discuss ways that you might explain how you enjoy spending time online to parents
and write these on the board.
3. Acknowledge that too much time spent online can be concerning for parents because they care
about the physical and mental health of their kids – what are ways you could show them you are
able to balance time online? Discuss these together and write the answers on the board.
Activity 2: Drawing task
Activity 2
Page
Subject focus
Drawing Activity
4
Assess the impacts
of excessive internet
and technology use
Duration
Resources required
Worksheet 1, pens, coloured pencils
etc.
Instructions
1. Distribute Worksheet 1 directly to all students as well as drawing materials.
2. As a group, discuss some of the ways that physical health might be affected from too much time
spent online in favour of other activities.
3. Ask students to draw two characters – one exhibiting signs of excessive use of online
technologies, and one demonstrating balanced use.
Model answers and notes for teachers:
Teacher’s Tip: Students may draw people exhibiting signs of eye strain, anxiety and
generally poor physicality in those who do not have a balanced approach to using
technology. Focus on the positive alternative, where drawings should include alert,
physically healthy individuals who are engaged with a variety of tasks, including a
balanced use of online technologies.
Balancing Your Time Online
5
Activity 3: Lifestyle audit and reflection
Activity 3
Page
Subject focus
Personal Audit
4
Auditing time spent
online and planning
balance
Duration
Resources required
Worksheet 2, Worksheet 3, pen
Instructions
Distribute Worksheets 2 and 3 and allow students sufficient time (5 to 10 minutes) to fill them out.
Discuss the results with the class.
Discussion Questions

What did your audit reveal?

Was any amount of time longer than expected?

How important is technology to you compared to other activities?

How much time are you spending on the computer for homework or socialising? How do
these figures compare to time spent on these activities offline?
Teacher’s Tip: Encourage the class to share strategies for managing social and homework
demands online.

What do your friends and family think about the time you spend online or using
smartphones?

Does anyone feel they are spending too much time on one internet-based activity?

What are the indicators that somebody might be spending too much time on one activity?
Teacher’s Tip: Explore as a class how to identify what an ‘acceptable time’ would be. What
are the key factors?

What times of the day or evening are you engaged in these activities?

How do you help someone who is spending too much time online?
Teacher’s Tip: You may wish to brainstorm practical strategies to change students’
approach to online activities if the class feels this is necessary.
Balancing Your Time Online
6
Activity 4: Balancing technology use in the future
Activity 4
Page
Subject focus
Group Discussion
5
Assess the impacts
of excessive internet
and technology use
Duration
Resources required
Board
Instructions
Ask students to consider the following questions and brainstorm ideas together on the board:
How will technology use change in the future?
How many hours a day do you think we will we use it?
Will we use it with our bodies or even inside our bodies?
How will we use it at home?
How will we use it in transport?
How will we use it to communicate?
How will we keep a balance and stay healthy and happy?
WORKSHEET 1: DRAWING ACTIVITY
On the left, draw a picture of a person who spends too much time online. What do they look like?
Why? On the right, draw a picture of a person who spends a balanced amount of time online as
well as doing other things. What do they look like? Why?
TOO MUCH TIME ONLINE
BALANCED TIME ONLINE
WORKSHEET 2: LIFESTYLE AUDIT
Name: ____________________________________________________
Perform an audit on your daily activities by filling in the table below. Extra spaces have been
provided for you to add any other activities you do each day.
Activity
Eating
Sleeping
Playing
Homework
Being active
Relaxing
Studying
Total hours
Details of activity
Hours per day
WORKSHEET 3: TECHNOLOGY AUDIT
Name: ____________________________________________________
Estimate how much time you spend on the following activities each week. There are some blank
boxes for you to add any activities not listed.
Activity
Searching online – for fun
Searching online – for homework
Sending emails
Instant messaging
Webcam chatting
Social Networking
Watching and sharing video content
Other tasks for homework
Playing games
Sending texts
Sending pics
Making phone calls
Downloading apps and ringtones
Listening to music
Taking and editing photos or video
Total Hours
Time spent on
computer
Time spent on
phone or tablet
WORKSHEET 4: SELF REFLECTION
Name: ____________________________________________________
1. How much time am I spending on these activities for entertainment?
2. How much time am I spending on the computer for homework?
3. Do I sometimes mix homework and entertainment? Does this have an impact on homework?
4. Am I doing other offline activities to balance how much time I am spending online?
5. Am I spending too much time on one internet-based activity?
6. What times of the day or evening am I engaged in these activities? Do I have time to rest,
eat and do offline activities?
7. Do I need to change how I allocate my time to online and offline activities? Why?