It’s estimated that children and teens get approximately 6-7 hours per day of screen time! In fact, 70% of households report having screens on all the time. “Screen time” includes computers, video games, tablets, mobile phones, television, and other electronic devices. What are the maximum screen times suggested for each age group and what are some alternatives to screen time? Dr. Joelene Huber breaks it down for us.
Infants
Screens, such as television, are not recommended for infants and toddlers less than 2 years of age.
A newborn baby’s brain is one-third the size at birth as it is at six years of age. Early childhood development is considered an important time for brain growth and development. It is believed that the brain develops based on experience-based learning. Learning through exploring, touching, feeling and interacting are considered important for brain development. Screen time, such as television, is considered more of a passive activity or a one-way interaction. Instead of screens such as televisions for infants and toddlers less than 2 years of age, an enriched and stimulating environment with interactive play with parent(s) and/or caregiver(s) is recommended. Engaging in child-directed play, looking at books together, and using simple language at their eye-level are encouraged. Toys can be those designed specifically for infants and toddlers or can be as simple as household items such as pots, pans and mixing utensils. Interactions can be as simple as describing the colors of the laundry items being folded or playing peek-a-boo.
Preschool
Screen time in the preschool years should be limited and should be less than one hour per day.
When screens are on in the background, people talk less. Talking, over-hearing language, and interacting are important for language learning and development. Some studies have shown an association between language delays and increased television viewing in the preschool years (it is unclear however whether this is a cause or effect relationship). A number of studies have also shown that young children are slower to imitate and learn tasks seen on video compared to “real-life” learning. This effect has been called the “video deficit”. Screen time in the preschool years should be limited. Instead of screen time, children can be encouraged to engage in unstructured free play (especially outdoors and in nature), physical activity (i.e., playing at the park, dancing to music), pretend play, dress-up, exploring, imagining, building, looking at and listening to books, playing with other children, creating (i.e., create a craft box) and fine motor skill activities (i.e., puzzles, beading).
School age
Screen time in the school age years should be limited to a maximum of 1-2 hours per day and should be supervised by a parent or caregiver.
Screen time is generally a sedentary activity. In the school age years, less sitting and more moving and exploring is encouraged. Free play, spending time outdoors, reading, playing board games, being imaginative, creating, building, problem solving, and exploring are all valuable for children’s learning and development. It can be a challenge to negotiate and limit screen time at this age and it can be helpful to set-up a screen time reward system that is right for your family. One example is using screen time tokens that can be earned once homework, physical activity (at least 1 hour per day), and chores are completed. Other options are to decide on the amount of total screen time for the week and children can budget screen time coupons and use them throughout the week. It can be helpful to use a timer during the allotted screen time so that the end of screen time is clearly defined and does not have to be negotiated. Supervision and guidance are important during the school years as parent(s) and/or caregiver(s) can help to provide context to questionable screen time content and can teach children about advertising, which can increase a child’s “media literacy”. Finally, good “sleep hygiene” is important in the school age years and screen time is not recommended in the hours before bedtime. Instead, reading before bed is a good sleep hygiene habit.
Teens
Teens should be limited to a maximum of 2 hours per day of recreational, non-violent screen time. Screen-free times and screen-free zones are encouraged.
It is estimated that greater than 90% of teens are online regularly and many teens report that they use multiple screens simultaneously (i.e., computer, mobile phone, and television). Some teens (and adults) are experiencing “text neck” (a new term used to refer to neck pain due to being hunched over while looking at screens and phones frequently). Further, many teens say that they are up late texting and using social media. It can be helpful to create screen-free zones (i.e., televisions in a teen’s bedroom are discouraged). As a family, screen-free zones and screen-free times can be decided upon. One example is making the dinner table a screen-free time and a screen-free zone for the whole family. Creating a screen docking station away from the screen-free zone may help everyone to resist the urge to respond to messages during specified screen-free times. Screen-free times can be used to engage, converse, and interact with each other the “old-fashioned” way!
Courtesy Dr. Joelene Huber