“We limit how much technology our kids use at home.”

The house rules of the people who built your apps.

October 2026 · 3 min read

The people who know these products best tend to be careful with them at home. They rarely talk about hours and minutes. They talk about rules: where devices are allowed, and when they stop.

Steve Jobs: the iPad stayed out of reach

In 2010, shortly after the first iPad went on sale, New York Times reporter Nick Bilton asked Steve Jobs whether his kids loved it. He later wrote about the answer:

“They haven’t used it. We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” Steve Jobs, as told to Nick Bilton · The New York Times, September 2014

Bilton wrote that he had imagined a house full of touch screens. He went on to meet other technology executives who set similar limits for their own families.

Bill Gates: a time when screens stop

In a 2017 interview with the Mirror, Bill Gates described the rules in his house. His children didn’t get cellphones until they were 14, and phones stayed away from the table at meals. There was also a cutoff at night:

“We often set a time after which there is no screen time and in their case that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable hour.” Bill Gates, 2017 · The Mirror, as reported by BGR

He was clear that the devices have real uses, like homework and staying in touch with friends. The limit was about when, not whether.

Arianna Huffington: the phone sleeps somewhere else

Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and Thrive Global, has made one habit her signature: her phone charges outside the bedroom every night. Her company even sells a small “phone bed” for the purpose, meant to sit outside the bedroom door.

The pattern

A place the device doesn’t go. A time it switches off. An age before which it isn’t handed over. These are simple rules, decided ahead of time, so nobody has to rely on willpower at 11 p.m.

The same rules work for adults. Pick where your phone doesn’t belong and when it stops, and make the decision once.