Screen time guidelines
Learning how to use screens within healthy limits can help you and your family create healthy habits together.
What is screen time?
Screen time is any time spent in front of a:
- computer
- online or electronic game
- mobile or smart phone
- tablet or iPad
- TV.
To support your family’s health and wellbeing, it’s important to break up screen time with movement and other activities. Staying active helps children build social, emotional and learning skills. Too much screen time can reduce chances to get active and connect with others, which can impact overall wellbeing.
Children and screen time
To stay healthy and reach their potential, children need:
- plenty of physical activity
- limited time staying still or sitting
- enough sleep each day.
Time away from screens gives children the chance to move, exercise and support their growth and development.
Setting expectations about screen use early, and encouraging children to manage their own screen time, can support better lifelong wellbeing. Try to switch screen time with other activities your child enjoys or that you can do as a family. Making changes together can help your whole family enjoy healthier screen use.
Learn more about healthy screen use for all ages at the Raising Children Network website.
How screen time can affect your child’s health and development
A small amount of screen time can be part of healthy everyday life. Screen time is often needed for learning and can be a fun way to spend some time with the family. But studies show that too much of it can affect children’s health and development in many ways.
Small changes in screen time habits can improve your child’s physical, social and mental health. This is important for developing skills at school, like concentration and memory.
Too much screen use may lead to:
- poor sleep due to exposure to blue light (learn more about the effects of screens on sleep)
- fewer chances to communicate and talk, which may delay language development
- less time spent being physically active, which can affect health and development
- problems with vision due to a lack of sunlight
- more snacking on unhealthy foods.
Screen time recommendations for children and young people
To support healthy development, the Australian Government recommend limits for how much recreational (or ‘fun’) time children and young people should spend sitting in front of screens.
| Age group | Recommended limit |
|---|---|
| Babies and toddlers under 2 | No screen time |
| Preschoolers aged 2 to 5 | No more than 1 hour per day, less is better |
| Children and young people aged 5 to 17 | No more than 2 hours per day (not counting school activities) |
Being active and getting enough sleep also supports overall health, development and wellbeing.
Balancing screen time with other activities
To help your child be healthy and develop their potential, consider switching screen time with other activities they enjoy, such as:
- going for a walk, bike ride or play in the park
- reading a book or having story time
- dancing to music
- doing art and craft
- playing a musical instrument.
You could also use the time to do fun things as a family, such as kicking a ball round the yard, playing on the floor, or cooking a meal (check out these low cost family friendly recipes).
Screen time and your family – building healthy habits together
As a parent or carer, you can support your child by encouraging healthy screen use from an early age. Positive habits and role modeling healthy screen use can make it easier to manage screen time for the whole family.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Encourage screen-free times, such as during meals or in bedrooms. Support these rules by eating together without devices and stopping screen use before bedtime.
You could start by replacing just 30 minutes of screen time with another activity. You might like to create a reward system for less screen time, like a sticker chart or an extra book at bed time.
If you can, consider reducing your own screen use. Showing your child positive habits can influence how your whole family uses screens.
For more tips to manage your family’s screen time, check out the video below.
Tips for healthy screen use
Is your family spending too much time on screens? Help them to sit less and move more with these handy tips.
Screen time and adults
Adults also need regular movement and exercise for their mental and physical health and wellbeing. Balancing screen use with other activities can help you stay healthy and lower your risk of disease.
The Australian physical activity guidelines recommend adults reduce and break up the time they spend sitting, which is what most people are doing when they’re using screens.
At work, you could try walking meetings, taking the stairs, or doing a short walk in your lunch break. At home, consider jogging on the spot, doing star jumps or lifting weights while you watch TV.
Find out more about getting started with physical activity.
Look for ways to relax and be entertained without screens. For example:
- listen to a podcast or audiobook while riding an exercise bike
- meet friends for a walk
- listen to the radio while cooking, cleaning or gardening.
Choose a time each day to switch off from devices and enjoy other activities, like spending time with your family. During this time, you might like to turn off your devices and respond to messages and notifications later.