Under 2, avoid screens apart from video calls. From 2 to 5, about an hour a day at most, ideally watched together. For school-age children and teens, there is no agreed number - the WHO and the AAP suggest consistent family limits, while Australia sets a 2-hour cap on recreational screen time.
Summarised from the positions below. Follow the links for the full guidance.| Question | World Health Organization 2019 (under 5), 2020 (5–17) | American Academy of Pediatrics Media and Young Minds 2016; Family Media Plan | Australian Government Department of Health 24-hour movement guidelines | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 months | Not recommended | Avoid, except video chatting | No screen time | Agree |
| 18–24 months | Not recommended | If introduced, choose high-quality programmes and watch together | No screen time | Differ The AAP allows some co-viewing |
| 2–5 years | No more than 1 hour; less is better | 1 hour a day of high-quality programmes | No more than 1 hour a day | Agree |
| 5–17 years | Limit recreational screen time; no number given | Consistent limits set with a family media plan | No more than 2 hours of recreational screen time a day | Differ Only Australia sets a number |
The first WHO guideline to look at movement, sitting and sleep together for young children. It gives daily numbers for each age group.
Under 18 months, avoid screen media other than video chatting. From 18 to 24 months, choose high-quality programmes and watch together. From 2 to 5 years, limit to 1 hour a day of high-quality programmes.
An online tool from the American Academy of Pediatrics for agreeing screen and device rules as a family.
Recommends an average of 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity for ages 5–17, and limiting sedentary time, especially recreational screen time.
A meta-analysis of 42 studies. More screen use was linked to weaker language skills, while co-viewing with an adult and better-quality programmes were linked to stronger skills.
Following about 2,400 children, more screen time at 2 and 3 years was linked to poorer developmental screening results a year or more later.
9-month-old infants learned Mandarin speech sounds from live sessions with a person, but not from the same material shown on video or audio.
Using data on more than 350,000 adolescents, the study found that digital technology use explained at most 0.4% of the variation in well-being - a negative but very small association on average.