Screen time by age: the real rules for kids 0–17
What the AAP, WHO, UK doctors, and Canada's guidelines really say about kids' screen time, age by age — plus the rule that matters more than any number.
The AAP, WHO, UK, and Canada all agree on zero screens for babies and about 1 hour a day for ages 2–5, then diverge: the UK sets no hour limits at all and Canada caps recreational screen time at 2 hours for ages 5–17. For every age, what matters most is that screens do not push out sleep, activity, and family time.
Ask five parents what the official screen-time rules are and you will get six different answers. One hour a day? Two? None before age two? The real answer is that the world's top health bodies disagree with each other, and knowing how they disagree is what helps you set rules that work for your family.
This guide brings together the real recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), and Canada's 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, age by age from 0 to 17. Every figure below links to its source.
The four big guideline systems, compared
Before the age-by-age rules, here is how the four major guidance systems differ, because the differences matter more than the numbers themselves.
| Guideline | Who it covers | Core rule | What makes it different |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAP (United States) | Ages 0-18 | Under 18 months: no screens except video chat. 18-24 months: high-quality content, watched with an adult. Ages 2-5: about 1 hour a day of high-quality programming. Ages 6+: family-set limits that protect sleep, activity, and offline time | Numeric limits for young kids, flexible family rules for older ones. Offers a Family Media Plan tool on HealthyChildren.org to help families set limits |
| WHO (global) | Under age 5 | No screen time at all under age 1. No more than 1 hour a day for ages 2-4, and less is better. At least 180 minutes of physical activity daily | Strictest of the four, but only covers young children. See the WHO's own news release on the 2019 guidelines |
| RCPCH (United Kingdom) | Ages 0-17 | Deliberately sets NO hour limits. Asks families three questions: Is screen time under control? Does screen use interfere with what your family wants to do? Does screen use interfere with sleep? | The outlier. After reviewing the evidence in 2019, UK paediatricians concluded no single number could be justified. A Childnet summary of the expert guidance explains the reasoning |
| Canada 24-Hour Movement Guidelines | Ages 5-17 | No more than 2 hours a day of recreational screen time, plus 60 minutes of physical activity and 9-11 hours of sleep | Treats screen time, activity, and sleep as one 24-hour budget. Only about 8% of Canadian 10-17-year-olds meet the screen-time part |
The rules by age: 0 to 17
Ages 0-18 months: zero, except video chat
The AAP and WHO agree here. Babies learn from faces, voices, touch, and movement, not from passive media. The one green light is video chatting with family, which is interactive and social, and the AAP explicitly allows it. Keep background TV off during wake windows, because even passive media reduces how much parents talk with their babies.
Ages 18-24 months: high-quality only, watched together
If screens are introduced at all, the AAP says choose high-quality programming and watch it together, pausing to talk about what is happening. WHO still says no sedentary screen time for one-year-olds and a maximum of 1 hour for two-year-olds.
Ages 2-5: about 1 hour a day, and sit with them
Both the AAP and WHO land on roughly 1 hour of high-quality content per day. What matters is co-viewing: watching and discussing the content turns screen time from passive to educational.
Ages 6-12: set your own consistent limits
Neither the AAP nor the UK sets a number here. Canada allows up to 2 hours of recreational screen time a day. The practical rule is the same everywhere: screens must not push out sleep, physical activity, homework, or in-person time. Write the rules down so they are not negotiable in the moment.
Ages 13-17: no universal number, so focus on habits
The AAP does not name a number for teens, and neither does the UK. Canada's 2-hour recreational limit applies to teens too. What matters most is the conditions around use: phones out of the bedroom overnight, an open conversation about what they watch, and watching for signs of problematic use such as sleep loss or late-night anxiety spirals.
What the research actually found
The 2025 Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Zero to Eight found that children age 8 and younger average about 2.5 hours of screen media a day, well above what any guideline allows. Kids under 2 average over an hour a day despite the zero guideline, and gaming time has jumped 65% since 2020, according to Common Sense Media's press release on the findings.
On the brain side, the NIH's Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study scanned 4,500 children aged 9-10. Children using screens more than 2 hours a day scored lower on thinking and language tests, and those logging over 7 hours a day showed signs of premature thinning of the cortex, the brain's outer layer for thought and action. Researchers stress these are associations, not proven cause and effect; a detailed EdWeek summary of the early ABCD findings explains the science and the caveats.
The crowd-out principle: what screens displace matters more than minutes
The RCPCH refused to set an hour limit because, as UK paediatricians put it, the evidence does not support one. Their point is simple: an hour of video-calling a grandparent, an hour of coding, and an hour of algorithm-fed short videos at midnight are not the same thing.
So instead of asking "how many minutes?", ask "what is this displacing?" If screen time pushes out sleep, exercise, homework, or real family time, it is too much, whatever the number. If those things are protected, the exact count matters less. That is the crowd-out principle.
Five family rules that actually work
- No screens in bedrooms overnight. The AAP recommends keeping all screens out of children's bedrooms and switching them off at least an hour before bed, because screens delay sleep and the blue light disrupts the body's sleep signals. More on the sleep connection at HealthyChildren.org's sleep guidance.
- Co-view with kids under 5. Sit with them, ask questions, connect the show to real life.
- Write a family media plan. Decide the rules with your kids before the argument starts: where, when, and how long. Rules set calmly beat rules set in anger.
- Keep mealtimes screen-free. One in four young children now uses screens at the table, which cuts into conversation and teaches constant distraction.
- Protect the three pillars. Sleep, physical activity, and offline time with people come first every day. Screens get whatever is left over, not the other way around.
Frequently asked questions
What is the right amount of screen time for a 10-year-old? There is no universal number. Canada says up to 2 hours of recreational screen time a day; the AAP says set consistent family limits that protect sleep, activity, and homework. Pick a number your family can keep.
Is video chatting with grandparents okay for a baby? Yes. The AAP explicitly exempts video chat from its no-screens guidance for children under 18 months, because it is interactive and social.
Does educational content count toward the limit? It counts, but it is not equal to entertainment. An hour of coding homework or a co-viewed educational show affects a child very differently than an hour of algorithm-driven short videos alone.
Should my child have a TV or phone in their bedroom? No. The AAP recommends keeping all screens out of children's bedrooms, especially overnight, and turning screens off at least an hour before bed.
My teen needs screens for schoolwork. How do I limit screen time then? Split required from recreational screen time, as Canada's guidelines do. Limit the recreational hours, protect the bedroom and bedtime, and apply the crowd-out rule: is anything important being displaced?