Screen time guidance for young children
For children younger than 18 months, the AAP’s position, quoted by the CDC, is that it is best if toddlers use no screen media other than video chatting. For 3 to 5 year olds, the CDC puts the limit at no more than 1 hour a day of quality programming, at home or in childcare, alongside a media plan the whole family is working from.
The AAP caps electronic entertainment at about 1 hour a day from 18 months to age 5, and says that when children do watch, watching with them is what makes it worth something.
Around this age
The reason for the under-18-months line is developmental rather than moral. Very young children learn from faces, voices and objects they can hold, and it takes a while before an image on a screen reliably stands for the thing itself. Video chat is the exception everywhere, because there is a real person on the other end answering back.
From 2 onward, what is on the screen and who is next to the child matter as much as the clock. The CDC’s guidance for 3 to 5 year olds is 1 hour a day of quality programming, keeping televisions out of the bedroom, and having a family media plan. It also puts sleep on the same page: 11 to 14 hours a day for 1 to 2 year olds and 10 to 13 hours for 3 to 5 year olds, naps included, which is the budget screens compete with in the evening.
In January 2026 the AAP published new media recommendations, broadening the question from the stopwatch to what it calls the 5 Cs of media use: context, content, calm, crowding out and communication. What the screen is replacing, and whether it helps or hinders a child settling down, sit alongside how long it was on. MedlinePlus lists the same concerns in health terms: sleep, attention, and time not spent moving.
The AAP also makes a point worth hearing on a bad Tuesday: families cannot carry the whole weight of digital media on their own, because most platforms are built to hold attention rather than to support children’s development.
What families usually do
Write down a family media plan. Both the CDC and AAP point to one. It does not need to be elaborate: when screens happen, where, and who decides.
Keep some times and places media-free. The AAP names the car, the dinner table, and weekend stretches. Bedrooms stay screen-free, and the CDC specifically suggests keeping televisions out of a child’s bedroom.
Watch together when you can. Co-viewing turns a program into a conversation, and the AAP suggests picking programs designed to teach, then answering the questions your child asks about them.
Turn it off when nobody is watching. The AAP cites research that a parent speaks about 940 words an hour around a toddler, and that with the television on in the background that number falls by 770.
Decide in advance. Choosing the program before you switch on, rather than scrolling to find something, is one of the practical tips MedlinePlus gives.
Have something to offer instead. A walk, a board game, bath time, anything that fills the same 20 minutes. Saying no is far easier when there is a yes attached.
Watch your own phone. Children copy what they see, and the AAP puts modelling near the top of its recommendations.
There will be flights, sick days and the hour you need to cook dinner. The guidance is for the ordinary week, not for every hour of your life.
When to talk to your pediatrician
If screens are affecting your child’s sleep, meals, or how they play, or if turning them off ends every day in a fight, your pediatrician can help you work out a plan that fits your household.
Sources
- Positive Parenting Tips: Toddlers (1–2 years old) — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Positive Parenting Tips: Preschoolers (3–5 years old) — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- A Child-Friendly Digital World: AAP Releases New Media Recommendations — HealthyChildren.org (American Academy of Pediatrics)
- Why to Avoid TV for Infants & Toddlers — HealthyChildren.org (American Academy of Pediatrics)
- Screen Time and Children — MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine (NIH)
This is educational information from public sources, not a replacement for advice from your child’s healthcare professional.
In Withya, the screen time guide for your child’s age sits under Guides, so the adults on different days are working from one plan rather than four.
