The screen-time guidance, summarized

AAP guidance

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding digital media for children under 18–24 months other than video chatting; for ages 2–5, limiting screen use to one hour per day of high-quality programming, co-viewed when possible.¹

WHO guidance

The World Health Organization recommends no sedentary screen time for children under 2, and no more than one hour for ages 2–4 — less is better.²

Why pacing matters

Fast-cut media — new shots every one to three seconds — has been associated in controlled studies with reduced executive function performance immediately after viewing, compared with slower-paced content of similar length. This is the basis for our Screen Pace metric on every entry: it isn't a taste judgment, it's the single number most consistently tied to attention outcomes in the literature.³

Practical tips

• Co-view when you can — narrating along matters more than the content itself.
• Prefer slower pacing and longer scenes for the youngest viewers.
• Treat screens as one part of the day, not the default filler.