Children under the age of two should not use any digital media, according to new recommendations from Sweden’s public health agency.
The Swedish agency also said that older children should limit their screen time, using them for a maximum of one to three hours depending on a child or teenager’s age.
Olivia Wigzell, the public health agency’s acting director-general, said in a statement that the hope is the advice will encourage better balance and work against problematic screen use.
The agency recommended that children under two do not use screens, young children aged two to five years old use screens for a maximum of one hour per day, and children aged six to 12 use them for a maximum of one to two hours a day.
The recommendation for adolescents aged 13 to 18 is that they use screens for a maximum of two to three hours a day.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in 2019 that “sedentary screen time” such as watching TV or playing computer games was not recommended for children aged one-year old.
Screen time should be limited to no more than an hour for children aged two, three, and four, the WHO added, with less screen time being better.
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Moves in France to reduce screen time
An expert panel commissioned by the French president said in May that children under the age of three should not have any screen time and that screens should be strongly limited up to age six.
More than 50,000 students are set to be impacted by a trial banning mobile phones in some French schools.
The Swedish public health agency also said this week that cell phones and tablets should be kept out of the bedroom at night as some research has linked screen time before bed to poorer sleep.
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Meanwhile, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that screen time be “very limited” for children younger than two years old and that if parents do introduce digital media, they do so with their child and choose “high-quality programming”.
Parents cutting down on screen time could also help their children cut back, research shows.
A US study published in June found that parents’ screen use was linked to higher screen use and problematic use in adolescents aged 12 to 13.
“Children may mirror parental behaviour and could thus model their parents’ screen use behaviours,” researchers said.
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