Screen time guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

The guidance below is shaped by clinical and child-development research. It’s intended to provide a starting point that families can adjust based on what works best for their child.

Guidance for kids 5 years and under:

• Under 2 years: Research and expert guidance generally suggest avoiding screen time for this age group, aside from video calls with family and friends. At this stage, babies and toddlers learn best through hands-on play and back-and-forth interaction with the people around them.

• Kids 2–5 years: At this age, young children are just starting to build habits, including how they use digital media. Setting media boundaries helps protect time for play, shared reading, and family. Any programming should be age-appropriate, ideally watched together so you can talk about what’s onscreen. Big feelings are part of this age, too, and helping children work through those emotions with a range of strategies can help build healthy habits early.

Guidance for kids 6–12 years: At this age, it’s important to leave ample room for sleep, movement, play, and family time. Look for quality content with educational value, and turn off autoplay and infinite scrolling where possible. Many experts suggest waiting until 13 before considering social media.

Guidance for teens 13–17 years: Many families find that teens do best with graduated independence—more guidance and supervision early on, while they’re still learning, and more freedom as they show responsible use.

For younger teens especially, keep assessing their readiness for social media, and protect essential time for sleep, family, physical activity, and in-person connection.

For teens with more independence, watch for signs that device use may be getting in the way—such as disrupted sleep, compulsive use, slipping grades, or self-image concerns. And keep talking with them so teens feel they can come to you if they need support.

To guide decisions about screen use, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests considering the “five C’s”:

• Child: Consider your child’s age, temperament, and developmental stage. Children may respond differently to the same type or amount of media.

• Content: Consider choosing educational, age-appropriate, and positive content over fast-paced or violent media.

• Calm: Think about whether media use helps or hurts your child’s ability to regulate their emotions.

• Crowding out: Consider what screen time replaces—sleep, physical activity, homework, outdoor play, or time with family and friends—and create more space for those activities.

• Communication: Talk with kids about what they’re watching and doing online to help them process media and learn from it.

Here are some additional things to keep in mind as you consider how to support healthy screen time habits for your family:

• Keeping certain times and places screen-free, like family meals or bedrooms, makes room for conversation and gives kids the chance to unplug.

• Sleep is especially important for children. The AAP suggests charging devices outside the bedroom and setting a device curfew about an hour before bed to help support healthy sleep.

• Kids often take their cues from the adults around them, so the way you use your own devices may help shape their habits.

• The Family Media Plan: The AAP offers a free tool that can help you and your family build a customized plan for screen use, including device-free times, bedtime, and everyday routines. See Family Media Plan on the AAP website.

• The 5 C’s of Media Use: The AAP provides age-based guidance, tips, and resources around the five C’s of media use. See Kids & Screen Time: How to Use the 5 C’s of Media Guidance on the AAP website.

• Early Childhood Development and Screen Time Toolkit: The AAP offers resources to help families build healthy media habits. See Early Childhood Development and Screen Time Toolkit on the AAP website.

• Screen Time Guidelines: The AAP answers common questions about how much time teens should spend on social media with evidence-based guidance. See Screen Time Guidelines on the AAP website.