Fortunately, the UK government recently released new guidance. For kids aged 5 and older, they suggest limiting recreational screen time to no more than two hours a day. This landmark advice marks the first evidence-backed, practical recommendations aimed at helping parents navigate the complexities of children’s media consumption. This new guidance emphasizes how important sleep and physical activity are to the well-being of children. In fact, it warns that excessive screen time puts their development in these critical areas at risk.
Per the American Academy of Pediatrics’ media use guidelines, kids younger than two years old should not be using any screen media by themselves. Instead, parents are encouraged to use screens collaboratively with their children, promoting interaction with both the content and each other. By age two an astounding 98% of kids are daily screen users. This guidance is much needed at this pivotal time, as we work to establish healthy media habits for children.
The world of children’s programming has changed greatly in the last 20–30 years. It’s not uncommon on today’s shows to have extreme pacing, lots of action going here and there, and constant chatter. So, it’s no wonder that this shift has sparked the concern of many researchers worried about its impact on the impressionable young viewers. Research finds that increased screen time is correlated with developing emotional dysregulation in children. This condition leads to bad emotional regulation, particularly when they’re exposed to rapid fire, hyperstimulative content.
According to child development expert Professor Sam Wass, that kind of rapid-fire content can have a serious physiological effect.
“If stuff is coming at us too fast, something called the fight or flight stress system kicks in, where your heart starts beating faster and you start to get a lot of energy released to your muscles,” – Prof Sam Wass.
He continued to explain how pointless these types of responses are when children are inactive, glued to screens.
“Of course, this isn’t actually useful anymore, because this is happening when children are sat still on a chair watching screen content,” – Prof Sam Wass.
The government intends for this guidance to be a living document, remaining under review as further evidence develops. Officials are engaging on proposals to outlaw children younger than 16 from using a number of popular social media services.
Bridget Phillipson, MP, the UK government official leading the new initiative, underscored the encouragement-focused character of the guidance. She emphasized that the goal is to assist, not to criticize.
“I know there are lots of pressures on families and the intention behind the guidance is not to be judgmental, but to be supportive and to provide that clear practical help that parents have been telling us they really want to see,” – Bridget Phillipson.
Parents have had favorable and unfavorable responses to these recommendations. Alexis, a mother of two with another on the way, discussed her frustration with keeping screen time in check.
“At the start of the week I was like, ‘Yeah come on, we’re going to do this,’ and by the end of the week I thought we would have no screens and everything would just swap perfectly – but it didn’t really happen like that. We’ve tried our best,” – Alexis.
Vicki Shotbolt, founder of parenting advisory group, Digital Parenting, welcomed the advice to restrict screen time but said this isn’t realistic all the time.
“So the idea that we can completely keep them away from it is probably flawed, but it’s good general guidance,” – Vicki Shotbolt.
