Earned access or Guideline-led?

The difference between Earned access and Guideline-led is mostly one axis: tied to behaviour. Earned access sits firmly toward earned, and taken away; Guideline-led sits toward never earned, never removed. They agree, more than most people expect, on conflict the household can absorb and how much. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Earned access

Screen time is the household currency: earned by the things that need doing, removed when things go wrong. It is easily the commonest approach in practice and the least often defended in print, which is a gap rather than a verdict. It works, in the sense that it reliably moves behaviour, and the thing it teaches about screens is that they are the most valuable thing in the house.

What it asks of you

A clear, stable list of what earns what, or it becomes a daily negotiation
Willingness to follow through on removal when that will ruin the evening
Accepting that contingency makes a thing more desirable, which is the mechanism working against you

Guideline-led

You take the question as settled by people who have looked at it properly, and follow the age-banded guidance: none under eighteen months, an hour or so for the under-fives, consistent limits after that. The appeal is that it removes the argument from the household and puts it somewhere external, which is a real benefit and not a lazy one.

What it asks of you

Keeping up, since the guidance has moved a lot and will move again
Tolerating that the most-quoted numbers are the least evidence-based part of it
Enforcing a limit you did not personally set, which is easier in some households and harder in others

Side by side

Where they differ

Earned access is the filled marker, Guideline-led the hollow one. Widest difference first.

T3Tied to behaviour

never earned, never removedearned, and taken away

Earned access sits firmly toward earned, and taken away; Guideline-led sits toward never earned, never removed.

T2Shape of the rule

a fixed daily limitit depends on the day

Earned access sits between the two; Guideline-led sits toward a fixed daily limit.

W1Alone or together

watching it togetherwatching alone

Earned access sits a little toward watching alone; Guideline-led sits toward watching it together.

P2Whether it applies to the adults

adult use is a separate matterthe rules are the same for the adults

Earned access sits toward adult use is a separate matter; Guideline-led sits a little toward the rules are the same for the adults.

W2Who picks

the adults choosethe child chooses

Earned access sits a little toward the child chooses; Guideline-led sits toward the adults choose.

C2How much the week needs themwhat your life allows

rarely needing a screen to get through the dayscreens are how anything gets done

Earned access sits between the two; Guideline-led sits a little toward rarely needing a screen to get through the day.

W3Their own device

as late as possibleearly — it is how things are now

Earned access sits between the two; Guideline-led sits toward as late as possible.

P1What screens are

entertainment, at best neutrala skill worth building early

Earned access sits toward entertainment, at best neutral; Guideline-led sits a little toward entertainment, at best neutral.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

Conflict the household can absorb. Both sit toward able to take the argument every time.
How much. Both sit toward as little as possible.

Neither of these is the correct one

Which fits depends on what you value and on what your week actually allows — and the second of those is the half nobody writes about. The questionnaire scores both.

See which one you are already doing