It can feel daunting to carry the weight of our children's relationship with screens. How early is too early? Is it even something your family values? What should you consider with your baby and screen time? In this short guide, we'll equip you with tips from varied sources to help you build your family's unique guidelines.
Screen time is not recommended before 18 months
Regardless of your values and comfort level with screen time, introducing it is not developmentally appropriate until toddlerhood. The exception is video chatting. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and other experts recommend the following progression:
0-18 months:zero screen time, except for video chatting
18-24 months:introduce educational content with a caregiver actively engaged.
2-5 yearslimit non-educational screen time to about 1 hour per weekday and 3 hours on each weekend day.
A bit more context on-screen use guidelines
Here's what you need to know from the Media and Young Minds Policy Statement, which informs media use and child development recommendations.
There is a noteworthy time-opportunity cost to weigh when introducing screens too early. Time spent watching content will never be as beneficial as hands-on play for babies and toddlers who are "sensorial learners," meaning they need direct feedback from their environment that a screen cannot replicate, no matter how educational the content is.
Media use can complement a toddler's play and learning when parents or caregivers are watching with them and cultivating real-life application of the content to reiterate concepts watched or heard.
Video chatting can be a great use of screens to bridge family relations from afar, but parental involvement is still necessary to help children make sense of it.
The makings of "better quality" content
The main thing to avoid for screens during infancy is anything overstimulating, age-inappropriate, or violent. To prevent overstimulation, look for slower-paced content rooted in real, everyday experiences. Common Sense Media has a recommended list of toddler-appropriate apps here. Looking for developmentally appropriate TV shows? Try this list.
Be mindful of leaning on passive media use to "fill time."
Allowing your child to watch something for light entertainment isn't inherently wrong. Still, if it becomes a habit to distract your child whenever you need to focus, drive somewhere, or wait at a restaurant, the pressure to entertain them can lead to play dependencies. It can also detract from crucial opportunities to observe how the world works, like staying engaged when getting a haircut or helping to pick out produce at the grocery store.
"Screen time" is out, but Family Media Plans are in
While it can be helpful to ensure you're not offering excessive media use, what's more important is connecting to how your children are engaging with media and what type of content they are consuming. Healthychildren.org provides a concrete way to build your Family Media Plan online here.
It's not okay to use screens to stop tantrums
Do not use screens to stop a tantrum as this weakens your boundary of turning off the device, overlooks an opportunity to help them cope with big feelings constructively, and creates an unhealthy, unsustainable association.
By focusing on age-appropriate content and setting healthy boundaries, you can lay a healthy foundation for screen use. The key is considering technology as a tool to enhance your child's development, not as a replacement for real-world interactions and experiences.