Let me paint you a picture:
It’s 5:30pm—the lawless hour. You need to get dinner on the stove. Your young child has (hopefully) made it through the afternoon nap. They are somewhat groggy and goofy, but also fueled in that combination with tons of post-nap energy. You’re trying to keep them entertained (and safe) while you prepare a nourishing meal (cut into the AAP’s recommended size to prevent them from choking, of course). However, cooking a hot meal means you are also guarding a hot stove. You’ve missed your child all day and genuinely want to give them your full attention, but your attention is already divided and your executive functioning past its limit. Suddenly, you hear your child say “watch this!”
Families of young children today and across time know the picture painted above well, and they know the very human feelings that come with it. Bonus points if the stove’s exhaust fan is on or the dog is barking. Caring for young children has never been easy work. It’s joyful, but it’s not easy.
It’s no wonder so many of us reach for the television remote or tablet in scenarios like the one listed above. Today, we see new challenges alongside the already tedious work of caring for young children. In the “Age of Information,” our devices pull us in more directions than ever before. We have confused our ability to instantly connect through devices with constant availability, and also confused the constant availability of information with knowledge. Our little screens light up all day and demand our attention with new information from news outlets, social media, bills that are due, messages from work, messages from family, from friends, software update failed for some reason, and more…
We want our children to be mentally, physically, nutritionally, and emotionally tended to at all times. But, we are pulled in many directions today while we face the demands of everyday life and teach our children how to navigate a world that is changing before our eyes. Still, we are inundated with information about the world, and how we are recommended to best prepare our children for it. This includes our children’s relationships with the now ever-present screens and devices.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) publishes evidence-based recommendations for US families on a variety of topics. Once the AAP has reviewed relevant and reliable research on an important topic, they publish the results as recommendations. These recommendations are available directly from the AAP, or from their more family-friendly site healthychildren.org. They are also adopted by professionals like your pediatrician, who might ask you related questions like, “How much screen time does your child typically have each day?“
The AAP first published guidelines about screen time in 1999. Aside from the ubiquitous nature of the television in the American home at this point in time, other major technological advancements were being introduced, like personalized computers and the internet. Today in 2025, personal computers and our constant connection to the internet are everyday realities.
While technology continues to grow, the AAP’s recommendations have continued to grow with it. Most recently, the AAP shocked many with three major updates to their screen time guidelines that mark a shift from the previous approach:
- They reduced the initial exposure age to 18 months instead of two years. This is the first time they have altered this suggestion.
- They are no longer suggesting time limits in the guidelines for each age group. Instead, the AAP suggest creating a screen time plan for your family.
- The benefits of watching media alongside our children are emphasized, with that recommendation being consistent and video chatting (like “Facetime”) remaining the untouchable form of screen time for young children of all ages.
What we see here is a philosophical shift, as the AAP is making these recommendations less prescriptive. Instead, they are moving to an overarching suggestion that families develop personalized strategies to mindfully minimize their children’s exposure to screens. Driving this shift is the fact that it is no longer negotiable whether children will be exposed to the media we consume through screens. Instead, their interactions with screens are more about quality than quantity.
That said, we still have a responsibility to our children to understand the evidence-based risk factors that the AAP is bringing to our awareness. With each of these factors, we can use the available information to understand the risks as well as where our children can use their screen time to develop digital literacy.
To help you navigate what should be considered and why, each of the major “risk factors” are laid out in the table below. For each, you will see a summary of why the risk factor is important to consider, as well as what we can do to lessen the negative impacts on our children.
| What is the “risk factor?” | Why is it important? | What can we do? |
|---|---|---|
| Blue light Screens deliver media through blue light. These rays are delivered through short wavelengths that are absorbed by children at a higher rate. | We are not sure of the “full picture” when it comes to what blue light does to us long-term. However, what we do know is this: it does impact visual tracking, can cause eye strain, and potential retina damage. | Make sure your child doesn’t stand too close to a source of blue light, and pay attention when a source of blue light has been on for a long time. This includes TVs, tablets, computers, and smart phones. Balance the time in front of a screen with time outside, reading books, or being creative. Remember, screens are not a cure for boredom! |
| Sleep disruptions Excessive exposure to screens can interrupt children’s sleep. | Studies show that children who look at screens in large amounts, especially before they go to bed, have a harder time falling and staying asleep. This has negative impacts on their growing bodies and can contribute to other behaviors like increased tantrums. | As stated above, notice when screens have been on more than usual, and balance screen time equally with “offline” activities. For example, if you watched TV for 30 minutes, spend 30 minutes (or more!) outside playing. Create a comforting bedtime routine that doesn’t involve screens (it’s best to shut them off an hour before bed). This can include reading books, completing a daily gratitude journal, or making time to talk about your day together. |
| Programming Quality Not all media programming is created equal. The quality of the media you show your children makes a difference. | Bright colors, loud noises, and repetition may capture children’s attention, but they start to confuse and damage their attention after repeated exposure. We should also think critically when a television program or tablet is promising to provide a moral or academic benefit to children. | Consider showing less stimulating media (for example, hand-drawn animations) and pay attention to color palettes. This is also a great chance to share shows and movies you grew up loving (think Bob Ross and Mr. Rogers!). Don’t limit yourself to television programming or movies, either—screens can also be used to encourage movement, or to show your children things like live music performances or wild animals! Too much to consider? That’s okay. When in doubt, turn to PBS. |
| Language Development The more children consume media on screens, the less language development we tend to see. | Children develop language (among other skills) at very rapid rates. It’s important that we support this development through “back and forth” language exchanges (think of these conversations like a ping pong game). This allows them to develop their talking (expressive language) and listening (receptive language) skills. However, consuming media through screens may disrupt this necessary developmental process. | Watch programs with your child whenever possible and communicate with them about the story. Ask genuine questions as you watchlike, “what do you think is going to happen?” Also, don’t forget to communicate and tell stories in other ways! This includes words, performances, art, music, and of course books. Don’t have time? Bring them along and narrate what you are doing. For example, bring them to the grocery store and share your thinking, like “I’m trying to decide how many apples we will need this week.” |
| Reading and Writing Skills Screens are disrupting the natural ways children learn to read and write by hand. | Children are increasingly learning to write on tablets, and early childhood educators are reporting notable differences in their fine motor skills when they get to elementary school. There are many apps and programs that promise to teach reading and writing skills, but those are best done off the screen. | Practice reading, writing, and academics off the screen and provide your child with natural opportunities for fine motor development. Practice writing letters on paper, and not with an index finger on a tablet. Also, encourage other fine motor skills like cutting with scissors or making crafts like beaded bracelets! |
Screens are everywhere. The connections we have to other humans through these devices can be truly beautiful, but they can also slip into a territory where interacting with them is not in our best interest. We want our children to grow up with the skills they need to navigate these devices, while also minimizing the negative effects we know they can have on humans. This has always been the goal of the AAP’s screen time recommendations, and what the most recent guidelines have been updated to respond to.
We can agree that we don’t want our children to confuse the ability to connect with availability, but we want them to know they can call us if they need us and how. We don’t want them to confuse information with knowledge, but we want them to know how to find reliable sources of information. We don’t want screens to be a solution to boredom, instead we want children to apply the medicine of creativity to their boredom. We want them to hear stories through books, visual media, and in the classic oral storytelling tradition that has been passed down by humans for thousands of years. We want them to know the real world is out there, waiting for them to embrace and explore it.
When we find some functions behind a screen that help us encourage those connections, it is great to appropriately embrace them. When we use them as our only means of solving problems like boredom, that’s where we create confusion for our children, and for ourselves as well.
I will leave you with some beautiful “food for thought” from the beloved Emmy-winning television star, Fred Rogers:
I went into television because I hated it so…and I thought, ‘there’s some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen.’ … The whole idea is to look at the television camera and present as much love as you possibly could to a person who might feel that he or she needs it.
Additional Resources
- (American Psychological Association) What do we really know about our kids and screens? https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/cover-kids-screens
- (healthychildren.org) Parents of Young Children, Put Down Your Smartphones
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Parents-of-Young-Children-Put-Down-Your-Smartphones.aspx - (National Public Radio) Why Mr. Rogers is Having a Big Moment in Education https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/05/24/314286509/why-mr-rogers-is-having-a-big-moment-in-education
Comment and make it public on Facebook