Thanks to Peach Dish & Xfinity for the dinner pictured in this post, which I enjoyed with my family, device-free. No other form of compensation was received & all opinions are my own.
How many times a week does your family eat dinner together? We eat together every night, without fail. It’s our special time to reconnect. We also have a strict rule that everyone abides by, no phones at the table. (If we’re at a restaurant, that rule doesn’t apply!)
A new Comcast survey shows that parents across the country are almost unanimous in their belief that disconnecting from devices during mealtime improves family bonding. Yet nearly half (42%) are not able to remember the last time their family had a device-free meal. Some parents have even gone as far as to disconnect their modems to stop their children’s Wi-Fi usage.
Eating dinner together as a family is important to me. The fact that 42% of those surveyed can’t remember their last device free meal blows my mind! If you think it’s just the kids, think again!
Children aren’t the only ones to blame, as more than half of parents (52%) have been told by their kids to put their cell phones away during meals!
For these reasons & more, Comcast’s “pause device” home Wi-Fi control feature has become the most popular function of the company’s new Xfinity xFi platform.
did you know?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has recommended parents develop personalized plans for their children’s device use, warning that excessive screen-time can displace important activities such as face-to-face interaction, family-time, outdoor-play, exercise, & even sleep. The AAP has developed a media time calculator to help parents better track & manage usage.
“Technology should adapt to meet our customers’ needs, not the other way around,” said Eric Schaefer, Senior Vice President of Internet and Communications Services for Comcast Cable. “With xFi’s ‘pause device’ feature, parents have the power to decide when it’s time for family members to connect with each other, rather than their devices.”
Bravo! But how does it work?
Xfinity xFi is a new way for customers to personalize, monitor, & control their home Wi-Fi, including the ability to instantly pause Wi-Fi connectivity by user or device. The “pause device” feature is now the most popular xFi function, with users tapping “pause” about five million times since launch, most often between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Comcast has also launched a national television campaign to raise awareness of the “pause
device” feature. (Have you seen the commercials? I have!)
Xfinity xFi gives users a simple digital dashboard to set up their home Wi-Fi network, find their password, see what
devices are connected, troubleshoot issues, & set parental controls. Additional family-friendly xFi features include:
Timed Pause: with xFi, parents can pause devices for a set amount of time – 30 minutes, one hour, or two hours. (Great for homework time too!)
Safer Searching: xFi includes simple controls that include search settings for Google, Bing, & YouTube. (Yes, I love this feature!)
Notification Center: xFi customers get real-time notifications about activity on their Wi-Fi network, so when their children have friends over and a new tablet or phone logs
on, the parent receives a text message and
can decide whether to allow connectivity and even set parental controls remotely. (I’m a parental control setting Mama Bear!)
The xFi experience can be controlled via a mobile app (iOS and Android), website, and
on the TV with the X1 voice remote. xFi is now available to more than 10 million Xfinity Internet customers with a compatible
Xfinity Wi-Fi device, and comes at NO EXTRA COST!
So go ahead & reclaim dinner time in your home, with xFi it’s easy.
