American Academy of Pediatrics Calls for Creating a Child-Friendly Digital World

The AAP offers recommendations for pediatricians, families, digital companies and policy makers to make the digital ecosystem a healthier, safer place for children.

ITASCA, IL—Today’s children experience the rapidly expanding digital world even before they can grasp an electronic tablet. Digital media is everywhere, as phones, tablets, TVs, apps, games and interactive assistants are woven into everyday life.

In a new policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics calls for a systems-wide approach and support for families navigating this “digital ecosystem,” observing that most platforms are designed to boost engagement and profit – and not to support children’s health and development.

The policy statement, “Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents,” published in the February 2026 Pediatrics (published online Jan. 20) is supported by an accompanying technical report. The policy offers recommendations for families, pediatricians, clinical practitioners, educators, researchers, industry, and policy makers. The statement and technical report replace prior AAP guidance on communications and media.

Policy statements and technical reports created by AAP are written by medical experts, reflect the latest evidence in the field, and go through several rounds of peer review before being approved by the AAP Board of Directors and published in Pediatrics.

“When digital media are designed with children’s wellbeing as the north star, young people can experience benefits, such as learning and social connection,” said Tiffany Munzer, MD, FAAP, lead author of the policy, written by the AAP Council on Communications and Media. “But many platforms are guided by an underlying business model to keep users engaged for as long as possible, which can disrupt child sleep, learning, physical health, and mood. Our focus should be on designing high quality digital media while supporting families at multiple levels to address their digital media concerns and set kids up for success.”

The updated policy statement uses a socioecological model to highlight how supportive relationships with caregivers and systems-level changes can set families up for success in their digital habits.

The socioecological model describing children’s use of media can be likened to a set of circles, the innermost circle being the child—their personality, age, and needs. The next circle includes their family, school, and neighborhood. The outer circles represent bigger influences like culture, laws, and the media industry.

“Each layer influences how digital media affects children’s well-being,” said Joanna Parga-Belinkie, MD, FAAP, a co-author of the policy. “There are many opportunities in each of these areas to improve how children use digital media so they can grow, learn, connect with others and manage their emotions.”

The policy statement breaks down the associations between digital media and child development by groups consisting of early childhood (0-5), school -age (6-12) and teenager (13-18).

For families, the AAP recommends various strategies such as creating a family media plan, modeling healthy media habits, and employing the “5 Cs of Media Use,”  as described by the Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health. The 5 Cs offer a framework for families to consider media in the context of their individual child; content of media; calm or self-regulation; what other activities media crowds out; and communication.

Parents cannot carry the weight of digital media management on their own, Dr. Parga-Belinkie said. But they can carve out spaces that are free of digital media - in the car, in the home at dinnertime or on weekends for activities. Also important is that parents model good behavior when using their own devices.

The AAP also calls for product manufacturers to:

• Create child-centered designs, such as a platform that nudges to disengage from use and incorporate children, teens, and families actively in the design process to center their experiences. The policy statement provides recommendations for what policymakers and industry can do better to improve youth opportunities and reduce risks online.
• Differentiate child users. Platforms used by minors should have child safety teams and a governance structure in which these teams have power and report directly to company leadership.
• Include safety and privacy features as the default setting, including turning off autoplay, not using targeted advertising on minors, providing options to turn off algorithmic feeds or content that has not undergone human review, preventing harmful content from being displayed to minors (such as suicide, self harm, pornography, eating disorders), minimizing designs that prolong engagement, and turning off the chat feature. 

For policymakers, the AAP recommends:

• Invest in pro-social spaces, such as adequate childcare, extracurricular opportunities, and paid parental leave. Greater investment and access to third spaces, such as libraries, green spaces, and community centers can provide enrichment, social activities, and physical activity and “crowd out” digital experiences.
• Fund child-centered media: Nonprofit organizations, such as PBS Kids and Sesame Workshop, include child-centered design and content and have the strongest evidence base for benefitting users.
• Protect learning, such as considering evidence-based school phone policies that provide students with distraction-free time to learn in school.

“As technology evolves, all of us share a responsibility to create a digital world that puts children first,” Dr. Munzer said. “Talk with your pediatrician if you are concerned about your child’s media use and are looking for support.”

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.