U.S. pediatricians recommend screen time for children

If you are uncertain how much time your kids can spend in front of a screen, you may refer to new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the nation's largest group of pediatricians.

In new screen time guidelines released this week, the AAP said children younger than 18 months old should avoid use of any screen media with the exception of video-chatting to maintain family ties.

For children 18 and 24 months old, parents should choose high-quality programming, and watch it with their children to help them understand what they're seeing.

For children two to five years old, it urged limiting screen use to one hour per day of high-quality programs and said parents should watch with their children to help them understand what they are seeing and apply it to the world around them.

The guidelines also recommended banning digital media use an hour before bed, turning off devices when not in use and keeping bedrooms, mealtimes and parent-child playtime screen free.

"Digital media has become an inevitable part of childhood for many infants, toddlers and preschoolers, but research is limited on how this affects their development," said Jenny Radesky of the University of Michigan, one of the authors of the AAP statement for children younger than five years old.

Radesky said that in children over three, the research is solid that high-quality programs like Sesame Street can teach kids new ideas.

"However, under three, toddlers' immature brains have a hard time transferring what they see on a screen to real-life knowledge," she said in a statement. "We don't yet know if interactivity helps or hinders that process."

"What we do know is that early childhood is a time of rapid brain development, when children need time to play, sleep, learn to handle emotions, and build relationships. Research still suggests that excessive media use can get in the way of these important activities."

Although there are specific instances when using digital media as a soothing tool is helpful, such as on airplanes or during medical procedures, parents should also avoid using media as the only way to calm down children, authors noted.

According to Radesky, using devices as a common soothing strategy may limit children's ability to regulate their own emotions.

In addition, for children aged six and older, the AAP said the idea is to balance media use with other healthy behaviors.

For example, parents should "place consistent limits on the time spent using media, and the types of media, and make sure media does not take the place of adequate sleep, physical activity and other behaviors essential to health."

The group also said parents should designate media-free times, such as dinner or driving, as well as media-free locations at home, such as bedrooms, for school-aged children and adolescents.

"Parents play an important role in helping children and teens navigate media, which can have both positive and negative effects," said Megan Moreno, lead author of the policy statement on media use in school-aged children and teens.

"Parents can set expectations and boundaries to make sure their children's media experience is a positive one. The key is mindful use of media within a family," Moreno said. Enditem