Experts recommend limiting screen time for children between the ages of two and five years old to one hour daily. That limit goes up for older kids. The key is consistency and finding what works best for your family. Use this quick guide to decide on what's right for you and your child.
“Your child's maturity and development matter more than anything else: They need to be able to follow rules and use the device properly and responsibly. You can help by providing guidelines, setting limits on screen time, and modeling responsible device use so your child can follow your lead.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends avoiding screens for children younger than 18 to 24 months, except when video chatting with family. The AAP also recommends limiting screen use for preschool children, ages 2 to 5, to just one hour a day of high-quality programming (think Sesame Street or PBS).
When you give a kid a device will determine how long a parent is going to be monitoring them, though not all parents agree on when they should give up control. As we showed in our previous survey coverage, parents tend to agree that they have to monitor kids up to about age 10.
Parents of children who are getting excessive screen time could see changes in behavior as well as impacts on their developing brains. While the Internet is an incredible tool, spending too much time online or in front of screens, and not enough time being active can lead to: Childhood obesity. Psychological problems.
Including limited screen time in your curriculum can be an engaging way to teach your children material that they may not be able to learn with books or traditional activities. However, too much screen time for toddlers and preschoolers can lead to health issues and developmental delays.
If you've got young children using the internet, parental controls of some sort are a necessity to ensure they are kept safe from threats online. These threats include predators, cybercriminals, cyberbullying and inappropriate content.
For preteens, excessive screen time can lead to conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, which are behavior disorders. A recent study found that playing video games and watching YouTube videos is linked to developing OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder).
Current Screen Time Guidelines
Children under age 2 should have no screen time. Limit screen time to 1 to 2 hours a day for children over age 2. Despite what ads may say, videos that are aimed at very young children do not improve their development.
Use parental controls
At the ages of 11-12 children still require supervision. Using parental controls ensures that you can monitor their behavior, block harmful and inappropriate sites and content, monitor their location and enforce your cell phone rules with additional technology and support.
According to experts' recommendation, a child at this age must be able to engage in recreational activities in front of a screen for at best two hours and not more. This limitation does not apply to the educational activities that a child has to comply with.
By reducing screen time, you allow your brain to slow down and focus on tasks without distraction. Over time, this increases your ability to focus as well as regulate emotions and helps you organize thoughts and tasks.
The benefits of limiting screen time for your child would include, but are not limited to: improved sleep habits, better focus and brain function, increased academic success, decrease in obesity, better vision, and lower risk of anxiety and depression.
Key findings
At 4–5 years old, children average more than two hours screen time per week-day. By 12–13 years old, this increases to more than three hours average per week-day and almost four hours per weekend day. This means that up to 30% of a child's waking time is spent in front of a screen.
Screen time statistics
This forms part of the wider picture of device use—a 2021 article from Australia's Tech Guide website claims that the average Australian spends 5.5 hours a day on their smartphone; however, this figure is based on the entire cross-section of society, including the silent generation.
Though screen time doesn't cause ADHD, some studies have suggested that children with ADHD may be at increased risk of developing a screen addiction. While parents of children with ADHD can try to be aware of their kid's screen time, most children's screen time falls short of addiction, according to Lightfoot.
Some effects of screen time over usage are depression, anxiety and brain fog, as well as the inability to regulate consumption of media, cyberbullying/harassment and self-isolation. Regulation of screen time is vital to progressive mental health stability and recovery.
As kids spend more and more time deep in their devices, they may not be communicating to parents how they're actually feeling or what struggles they're facing. Because of this, issues like cyberbullying and depression may go unaddressed, negatively affecting school performance, attendance, and self-worth.
The main reasons for not monitoring your teens social media activities are privacy and trust. Kids don't want their parents looking through personal information, texts, and social media posts. Many kids consider their smartphones sacred property not to be viewed by their parents.
Responsible parents must protect kids from potential harm. Monitoring your children's phone activities and messages is a significant part of that responsibility. The fact is most of the time children spend using phones will be online, where anyone can publish anything.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that parents of kids and teens 5 to 18 years old place consistent limits on the use of any media. This includes entertainment media (like watching TV and movies), as well as educational media (like creating flash cards on a smartphone app).
The cons of screen time
Screens may slow language development among younger children. A child can learn words by using the screen, but the screen can't provide the feedback necessary for children to develop and use language. They stifle creative thinking.
Today though, unlimited screen time is much less permissible among parents: 60% limit their child's screen usage to some extent, while 40% do not. When developing boundaries between children and devices, a large percentage of parents practice an enforceable hours per day rule (27%).