Screen Time Guidelines
Question: What are some screen time guidelines for
social media applications?
Answer: It can be tempting to want a set number of hours on screens that is “safe” or healthy
to guide your family’s technology use. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough evidence
demonstrating a benefit from specific screen time limitation guidelines. For this reason, the
American Academy of Pediatrics updated their media use recommendations in 2016. These
evidence-based guidelines do not give a set screen time limit that applies to all children and
teens. Because children and adolescents can have many different kinds of interactions with
technology, rather than setting a guideline for specific time limits on digital media use, we
recommend considering the quality of interactions with digital media and not just the
quantity, or amount of time.
It is important to consider the specific activities that children and teens engage in on social
media, and to support them in using social media in ways that strengthen their social,
emotional, cognitive and identity development. When it comes to household rules around
technology use, there is evidence that rules focusing on content, co-viewing and
communication are associated with better well-being outcomes than rules focused on
screen time.
Resources for Parents:
Common Sense Media published the following article titled “How Much Screen Time
is OK for My Kids?” which emphasizes how quality of media use is more important
than setting a screen time limit.
Common Sense Media also provides guidance on assessing the quality of a child’s
digital media use in “Are Some Types of Screen Time Better Than Others?”.
Healthychildren.org provides guidance on how caregivers can support healthy media
habits in the article “Beyond Screen Time: Help Your Kids Build Healthy Media Use
Habits”.
Healthychildren.org recommends creating a Family Media Plan to facilitate discussion
around safe and practical media use that works for a family’s specific needs.
Common Sense Education provides tips, discussion prompts, and activities for families
to learn about digital citizenship together.
The American Psychological Association recently released a health advisory on
adolescent social media use. The advisory explains that social media use is not
inherently harmful or beneficial, and offers a list of ten recommendations for
adolescent engagement with social media.
Resources for Educators
Common Sense Education provides a comprehensive Digital Citizenship Curriculum
for each grade level k-12 which is free for educators. The curriculum covers topics
including media balance & well-being, relationships, communication and
cyberbullying.
Age: 9-14, 15-16, middle adolescents, early adolescents, middle school, high school
Topics: Screen time, social media
Role: Educator
Last Updated 05/21/2023
Source American Academy of Pediatrics
© Copyright 2024 American Academy of Pediatrics. All rights reserved.
