Screen time guidance

With 98% of two-year-olds watching screens daily, avoiding them altogether isn’t realistic, but managing them well can make a difference to how young children grow and develop.

The government has provided guidance  from the Early Years Screen Time Advisory Group (EYSTAG).  This group was established by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to review the currently available evidence on early years screen time and provide advice to inform new government guidance on screen time for children aged under five.

They recommend the following messages to parents:

• Under two, children should avoid screentime except for shared activities that support family bonding and learning. These activities could include video calling to relatives, reviewing family photo albums or reading e-books with parents or siblings
• Two to five-year-olds should keep screen time to no more than an hour a day, ideally through short chunks (30 minutes or less) and not during mealtimes or near to bedtime, with solo screen use kept to a minimum.

Parents are reminded to:

• Carefully consider how they can limit use of their own devices in front of young children.
• Consider adopting screen-free periods of the day for all family members, such as mealtimes and for an hour before children go to bed.

Note that these limits do not apply to screen-based assistive technologies for children with SEND. These technologies have particular benefits for some children with SEND in improving their quality of life, for example by helping with mobility and communication. EYSTAG has also not sought to provide advice for early years educational settings, where the use of screens for educational purposes requires different considerations.