How Much Screen Time Is OK for Kids?

Screens can present wonderful opportunities to learn and keep our kids entertained. And since most kids love them, it is difficult to know how long is too long to be in front of a screen. After all, if they’re learning and enjoying themselves, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

Of course, because kids love them, it can lead to requests and begging for more time playing a game or watching a show, leading to meltdowns when we say no or take a device away. Screens can even help soothe tantrums or meltdowns, making it hard not to turn to them when you and your child are dealing with heightened, overwhelming emotions. Our instincts leave us wanting to relieve this discomfort as quickly and painlessly as possible.

While screen time may equal less scream time and more learning, is it always the best option for kids? It’s a tricky question to answer. Like most things related to our health, it depends on a bunch of different factors.

Factors to Consider Around Screen Time

There are many elements to consider when assessing how much time to allow on a screen or whether it’s good or bad for a child, starting with the child’s age and ending with the fact that it’s an essential part of our lives.

Child’s Age & Development

When figuring out how much screen time is a good amount, it’s important to consider the age and stage of development a child is at.

For children two and under, it’s recommended by health authorities such as the World Health Organization to avoid screen time unless it’s for something like video chatting. At this stage in development, interacting with people is the best way for a child to learn, and screen use can get in the way of this. For those aged two to five, having a maximum of an hour of screen time each day and only allowing high-quality programming that supports learning is recommended.

After age five, however, things get a bit more challenging to navigate because there is no maximum amount of time recommended. Instead, guidelines direct parents and guardians to “healthy usage and activities” and to focus on the quality of the content. Unfortunately, this suggestion can feel too subjective or ambiguous for some parents, making it difficult for them to feel confident in their decision-making. But taking the time to verse yourself in what high-quality screen time is can help ease these worries.

Quality of Screen Time

Not all screen time is created equally. When health experts talk about good or high-quality programming, they’re referring to engaging and interactive apps, games, shows, or videos that support your child’s current learning and development stage. These screen time options should also be ad-free.

There are also certain subject matters that are deemed harmful to children, like violence, substance use, unsafe behavior, or mature content. For young children, it is best to also avoid fast-paced programs. This is why it’s important to filter or review what types of apps, games, or videos children are allowed to watch.

Resources like Common Sense Media can help parents navigate the quality of different screen activities and content. These offer reviews and age suggestions for many movies, shows, games, apps, and other screen-based activities.

Potential Risks of Screen Use

Regardless of the quality of content, there are some risks to spending too much time in front of a screen. When it comes to physical health, sleep patterns can be interrupted. Excessive screen use can be linked to obesity and not getting enough exercise or time outside since most screen activities involve being sedentary and indoors.

Screens can also negatively affect mental health and academic performance and are linked to behavioral problems, mood disorders, and attention disorders.

Necessity of Screens

Screens are now ingrained into most aspects of our lives, including children’s. Today, most schoolwork relies on the use of screens. A considerable aspect of maintaining health and wellness is a thriving social life, and our social lives are closely tied to screens, particularly among teenagers.

Moderating & Modeling A Healthy Screen Relationship

All these factors lead one to the conclusion that moderation is key when it comes to screen time. Because screens are essential to our daily lives, we can’t simply restrict them or cut them out altogether. Instead, we have to set boundaries around them.

Children’s health experts recommend approaching healthier screen time by doing things like:

• Encouraging screen-free activities
• Encouraging an hour of screen-free time before bedtime
• Having dedicated screen-free times and areas (such as having no devices at the table while eating dinner and keeping bedrooms as screen-free spaces)
• Having set screen time limits, which can be monitored and enforced with apps
• Having parental controls to limit harmful or inappropriate content

Most importantly, though, these experts recommend modeling healthy screen use in our behaviors as parents or guardians. This means that even if you've discovered a new online casino that will deposit into your phone account or are browsing Pinterest to plan your next family vacation, you should limit your time on a screen to model healthy boundaries.

Conclusion: There Is No Perfect Answer

Even when we’re letting our kids watch videos and TV or play games that have been carefully screened and selected, we’ll still find ourselves wondering, “How much screen time is okay for our kids?” There is no perfect answer to this question; we just need to remember that moderation is essential in all things for a happy and healthy child.