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Podcasts Take Two
The Brood: Pediatricians to revise guidelines for kids and screen time
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Oct 20, 2015
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The Brood: Pediatricians to revise guidelines for kids and screen time
How much time, if any, should kids spend with digital devices? Pediatricians say their recommendations are in need of an update.
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How much time, if any, should kids spend with digital devices? Pediatricians say their recommendations are in need of an update.

How much time, if any, should kids spend with digital devices?

For some time now, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has offered the following guidelines: For children under the age of 2, screen time is discouraged. For children age 2 and older, a limit of two hours of screen time per day is recommended.

But the last time those guidelines were updated was in 2011. As pediatrician Ari Brown noted in a recent AAP News article, the policy "was drafted prior to the first generation iPad and explosion of apps aimed at young children."

So Brown and her colleagues are taking another look at the screen time regulations, with an aim to announce their revised guidelines in the fall of 2016. One of the biggest questions they're looking to answer is how exactly to define "screen time."

When the AAP's policy statements first came out on this topic, Brown says "screen time" just meant time watching television. Now, "screen time" means time spent on a tablet, smartphone, computer or TV.

Another complicating factor in updating the recommendations is the fact that time spent on a digital device can mean so many different things today. Kids may be using tablets in school or using Skype or FaceTime to work with a tutor. They're also of course using devices to watch YouTube videos and play video games.

While parents wait for the revised guidelines to come out, Brown says the key thing to remember is that you want to encourage moderation and balance in your child's life.

"If your child is spending several hours a day with a screen in front of their face or in their hands, no matter how they use it, they're obviously not doing something else," Brown says. "We want kids running out and playing, and we want kids sitting down at the dinner table and talking with their family, and we want kids going to sleep when they need to go to sleep." 

To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.