Pediatricians Rethink Screen Time Policy for Children

All screens are not created equal. In a nod to the changing nature of digital media and technology, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that it is starting the process of revising its ironclad guidelines for children and screens.

For more than 15 years it has advised parents to avoid screen time completely for children under the age of 2, and to limit screen time to no more than two hours a day for children older than 2. “In a world where ‘screen time’ is becoming simply ‘time,’ our policies must evolve or become obsolete,” the AAP’s media committee wrote in an article published in the publication AAP News, which circulates to the academy’s 64,000 members. Experts are convening now and hope to be more expansive in their next set of guidelines, which they aim to have out in fall 2016.