Toddlers' Daily Screen Time Has Doubled in Past 2 Decades

By Kelly Young

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD

U.S. children aged 2 and under are spending twice as much time in front of a screen as they did in 1997, according to a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics.

Researchers used time diaries to investigate how much time nearly 1800 children up to age 5 were spending in front of a screen in 1997 and 2014.

For children aged 0 to 2, average daily screen time increased from 1.32 hours in 1997 to 3.05 hours in 2014. Most of that time was watching television. For children aged 3 to 5, the total screen time didn't change significantly during that time (about 2.5 hours), but the amount of television time increased 80%.

The authors conclude: "As stakeholders warn against an overreliance on mobile devices, they should be mindful that young children spend most of their screen time watching television."