Screen time by age caps date to 2016, AAP now wants a plan

Screen time by age guidelines are the American Academy of Pediatrics' age-by-age advice on kids' media use, and the numbers for each age come from two 2016 policy statements.

Those 2016 statements said to avoid screens other than video chatting before 18 to 24 months, to pick high-quality shows and watch together if you start between 18 and 24 months, and to limit ages 2 to 5 to one hour a day. For school-age kids, they asked families to set their own consistent limits. On January 20, 2026, the AAP replaced both statements with a new policy that, according to its HealthyChildren.org explainer, moves beyond simple time limits toward quality, context, and conversation.

What the AAP recommends at each age

As of October 2026, the AAP's age bands come from its 2016 statements, which the AAP has since revised. The table below shows what those statements said, with the year attached, so you can read it as a starting point and not as the complete current policy.

The bands for children under 6 come from "Media and Young Minds," published in Pediatrics in November 2016. According to that statement, children younger than 18 to 24 months should avoid digital media except video chatting. For 18 to 24 months, parents who want to introduce media should choose high-quality programming, use it together with the child, and avoid solo use. For ages 2 to 5, the statement said to limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programming and to co-view it.

The band for older kids comes from a separate 2016 statement, "Media Use in School-Aged Children and Adolescents." It asked parents to "place consistent limits on hours per day of media use as well as types of media used." It did not give one number that applies to every child.

On January 20, 2026, the AAP published the policy statement "Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents," and both 2016 policy pages now say they were revised by it. The AAP's consumer explanation of the new policy, posted on HealthyChildren.org on June 3, 2026, says the guidance now aims to "move beyond simple screen-time limits and focus on quality, context and conversation." If you want to know how the 2016 numbers apply to your own toddler or preschooler today, that is a fair question to bring to a well-child visit.

Real households look different from any of these bands. Common Sense Media's 2025 Census, a nationally representative survey of 1,578 parents of children 8 and younger fielded August 5–29, 2024, found that kids in that age group averaged 2 hours 27 minutes of screen media a day. The same survey found that 40% of children had their own tablet by age 2, and 58% had one by age 4. Those figures are parent-reported estimates of what families do, not recommendations from the AAP or anyone else.

Why there is no daily cap after age 6

The AAP's 2016 school-age statement left the number to each family, and the AAP's own Q&A says the evidence does not show a benefit from fixed limits. An AAP Center of Excellence Q&A updated in 2025 says, "there isn't enough evidence demonstrating a benefit from specific screen time limitation guidelines."

That Q&A is about a universal limit for all children and teens. It does not erase what the 2016 statement said about babies and preschoolers, and it does not mean the AAP thinks limits are pointless. The 2016 school-age statement still asked for limits; it just asked parents to choose them and apply them consistently.

If you find a chart that says the AAP caps school-age children at two hours a day, check the date on it. The 2016 school-age statement did not set a single number for every child, and the 2026 policy moved further away from hour counts.

What the AAP asks for instead is a question about what screens are crowding out. HealthyChildren.org's explanation of the 2026 policy puts it this way: "The goal is to make room for sleep, exercise, reading, play, homework and family." The same page suggests bedrooms and mealtimes as screen-free zones, especially during the hour before bed.

In practice, that turns the daily question from "How many minutes did you have?" into something closer to whether screens pushed out anything that was supposed to happen that day. A 9-year-old who plays a game for 90 minutes on a Saturday after soccer and dinner is in a different spot from one who loses an hour of sleep on a school night to a video feed. The minutes are similar, and the trade-off is not.

The years without a fixed cap are also the years when the first-phone question shows up. Our look at what U.S. surveys say about the age for a first phone covers how parents are answering it.

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What counts as screen time, and what does not

Video chatting is the one use the 2016 guidance carved out by name, and only for the youngest age band. For everything else, the AAP's current emphasis on quality, context, and conversation puts more weight on how a screen is used than on a running total of minutes.

Under the 2016 wording, a grandparent's video call with a 14-month-old fits the exception, and a cartoon on the same tablet does not. Between 18 months and 5 years, the 2016 statement treated watching together as part of the guidance itself. A show a parent watches with a 3-year-old, talking about what happens, is the kind of use the statement described. The same show running while the child is alone in another room is the solo use it asked parents of 18- to 24-month-olds to avoid.

Background TV and schoolwork on a laptop are harder. The family plan is the place to decide whether those minutes count. One AAP page on family media plans lists "during homework" as an example of a screen-free zone, alongside the dinner table and before bed. Whether that covers the school laptop itself is something your plan can spell out.

The same AAP page also lists rules that are about how screens are used, not how long:

• one screen at a time, instead of a phone open next to the TV
• autoplay and notifications turned off
• content chosen for quality
• privacy settings checked
• offline activities kept on the schedule
• controls for time, downloads, contacts, and purchases

None of those items depends on a minute count.

How to turn the guidance into a family media plan

The AAP offers a free Family Media Plan tool on HealthyChildren.org. Start it with your child's age band from the table above, add a section for every family member including the adults, and plan to revisit it as the kids get older.

According to the AAP's consumer explanation of its 2026 policy, the tool is meant to help families "set boundaries around digital media that fit your family's routines and values." Its companion page, "How to Make a Family Media Plan," says to "create a plan for every member of your family, including yourself." A plan that limits a 7-year-old's tablet at dinner while a parent scrolls at the same table is hard to keep.

The plan can start small. For a child under 2, the plan might be a single line about which relatives video chat and at what time of day. For a 3-year-old, it might name two or three shows, the time of day they happen, and which adult watches with them. For a school-age child, it is likely to include a daily limit the family picks, the screen-free zones, and a time when devices leave the bedroom.

The screen-free zones the AAP names (the dinner table, homework time, and the hour before bed) are a practical first section to fill in, because they are tied to things that already happen every day. A rule like "phones charge in the kitchen after 8 p.m." is easier to check than a running count of minutes across three devices.

The HealthyChildren.org page also says to "revisit and revise your plan often." Good times to look at it again are a birthday, the start of the school year, and the week a child gets a new device. A plan written for a kindergartner will not fit the same child in 4th grade.

Check your school district's policy on phones and devices during the school day before you write school-day rules into the plan.

When to talk to your pediatrician about screens

HealthyChildren.org's page on unhealthy video gaming names one point to call: "If your child or teen resists your efforts to cut back on gaming, call your pediatrician for advice." That advice is about gaming. For other worries, such as a device cutting into sleep or a concern about speech, this article has no AAP source that sets a threshold. Treat them as questions to bring to a well-child visit.

The AAP's 2026 explainer lists sleep first among the things screen-free time should protect, and it suggests keeping bedrooms screen-free, especially in the hour before bed. If a child's bedtime keeps sliding later because of a device, and moving the device out of the bedroom has not helped, you can raise it with the pediatrician.

For a toddler or preschooler, the question often comes up the other way around. A parent notices something about speech or play and wonders whether the tablet is part of it. Raise the concern itself with the pediatrician and mention the media habits as part of the picture.

Video games are where many families first hit the limits of an hours-based rule. Our guide to how many hours of video games is too much for kids walks through the signs that matter more than the clock.

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If you have a few minutes tonight, open the Family Media Plan and write one line in it: where your family's devices will sleep tonight.