How much screen time is right for your child?
Do you check your phone every few minutes, scroll through social media and spend evenings binge-watching new series on Netflix? Given your own screen time habits, you may find it hard to say no when your kids want to play Toon Blast, watch TV or TikTok videos, or text their friends for hours.
But too much screen time for kids may be linked to nearsightedness (myopia), which is becoming more common, and may also lead to eye strain, neck and shoulder pain, headaches, and a more sedentary lifestyle.
To find a healthy balance, you may benefit from making a family media plan. Here's a guide to daily screen time recommendations by age to get you started setting healthy limits for you and your kids.
Average screen time by age
So how much time do kids spend looking at a screen? It varies by age, and it’s increased since the pandemic started. Listed below are average daily screen times by age group:
Average screen time for kids ages 0 to 2 – 49 minutes a day
Average screen time for kids ages 2 to 4 – 2 to 2.5 hours a day
Average screen time for kids ages 5 to 8 – Over 3 hours a day
Average screen time for tweens ages 8 to 12 – Almost 5 hours a day
Average screen time for teens – Almost 7.5 hours a day
These estimates include time spent on entertainment like apps, video games, TV and movies, but do not include screen time spent doing homework or other educational activities. As these are averages, many children in today's world exceed these estimates.
A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in November 2021 found that a group of 12- to 13-year-old children are spending 7.7 hours a day on non-school screen time. That’s about twice as much as the 3.8 hours of screen time they were getting each day before the pandemic.
The reality is, many kids and adults spend a lot of time in front of screens. Now let's take a look at average screen time recommendations by age for babies, toddlers, teens, tweens and adults.
