Screen Time Guidelines

Question: What are some screen time guidelines for social media applications?

Editor’s Note: This question was originally answered in spring 2023 and has been updated in 2025 to include the most recent literature in this area as well as new resources that have been made available since this response was initially published. 

Answer: It can be tempting to want a set number of hours on screens that is “safe” or healthy to guide your family’s technology use. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough evidence demonstrating a benefit from specific screen time limitation guidelines. For this reason, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated their media use recommendations in 2016. These evidence-based guidelines do not give a set screen time limit that applies to all children and teens.  

Because children and adolescents use screen media for a variety of activities, including school, work, connecting with friends and family members, playing games, browsing social media, watching entertaining videos, learning new hobbies, reading the news, and more, rather than setting a guideline for specific time limits on digital media use, we recommend considering the quality of interactions with digital media and not just the quantity, or amount of time.

The Relationship Between Screen Use and Wellbeing 

Overall, the relationship between time spent on screen media and negative health and wellbeing outcomes is complex and depends on many factors including:

• Periods of developmental sensitivity (certain ages/developmental periods may be riskier than others), 
• Type of device used, and  
• Demographic and contextual factors, such as geographic location.  

This relationship also depends on the person and how their media use helps them grow, including their identity, social skills, thinking, and emotions.

Unfortunately, the research guiding our understanding of the impact of screen media on health and wellbeing is further complicated by inconsistent or inaccurate research measures. As research studies move forward, social media researchers must go beyond measurements of screen time to better understand how social media impacts health and well-being for adolescents. 

Recommendations for Parents and Caregivers:  

It is important to consider the specific activities that children and teens engage in on social media, and to support them in using social media in ways that strengthen their social, emotional, cognitive and identity development. When it comes to household rules around technology use, there is evidence that rules focusing on balance, content, co-viewing and communication are associated with better well-being outcomes than rules focused on screen time. 

Explore the impact of social media on youth mental health.  

• The Good and Bad of Social Media: What Research Tells Us highlights the potential benefits and risks to help parents and adolescents make informed decisions about their engagement with social media.

Help your child practice media balance.  

• The 5 Cs of Media Use provides helpful suggestions for supporting youth with positive media use. For example, teens and caregivers can consider whether media use has been crowding out other important health behaviors, such as sleep or physical activity, which are both essential for healthy development. Rather than focusing on reducing screen time, families can consider how to crowd back in important activities, like building a healthy bedtime routine or spending time outside.  
• Families can also consider creating screen-free times and places, such as family mealtimes. The AAP Family Media Plan can help families set these priorities together.  
• Share with your teen this previous portal response about the impact of limiting time spent on social media.  
• Common Sense Education’s unit on Media Balance and Well-being has lesson plans, activities, and family tip sheets for promoting media balance at different ages and stages.

Teach teens to take control of their digital media use.  

• The Glossary of Digital Media Platforms includes detailed information on design features of individual social media, video sharing, and gaming apps. Teens and families can use this tool to learn how to adjust settings to support balance and well-being, including turning on nudges to take a break, adding nighttime do-not-disturb settings, and limiting notifications. Using these strategies can help teens ensure that their media use is not crowding out other important activities like homework, sleep, and spending time on hobbies.  
• Common Sense Media also provides guidance on assessing the quality of a child’s digital media use in “Are Some Types of Screen Time Better Than Others?”. 

Role-model positive media use and balance.  

• Healthy Parenting and Digital Media Use discusses how parents' use of digital media affects their children and offers insights on how to lead by example with your own digital habits.
• Parents can also consider reading this guide from Raisingchildren.net for guidance on how to role-model positive media use and balance.  

Educators who would like to directly engage youth about healthy social media use may find the following resources helpful:  

• Common Sense Media’s Digital Citizenship curriculum covers topics including media balance & well-being, relationships, communication, and cyberbullying.   
• Teens & Tech is a free, evidence-based curriculum developed by the Winston National Center on Technology Use, Brain, and Psychological Development for middle school educators on how adolescent brain development affects technology use and well-being.   
• Ed Tech Triangle's model guides teachers and admins on spreading wellness and sharing resources about digital wellness in the classroom.   
• Media Power Youth’s Screenshots curriculum is a media literacy curriculum for grades 6-8. It includes lesson plans, podcasts, a project, and an interactive notebook and focuses on thinking critically about social media messages, managing online conflict, exploring how digital media relates to substance use, and practicing empathy when navigating online challenges.   

References: 

• Ferguson, C. J., Kaye, L. K., Branley-Bell, D., & Markey, P. (2024). There is no evidence that time spent on social media is correlated with adolescent mental health problems: Findings from a meta-analysis. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.   
• Li L., Zhang Q., Zhu L., Zeng G., Huang H., Zhuge J., Kuang X., Yang S., Yang D., Chen Z., Gan Y., Lu Z., & Wu C (2022). Screen time and depression risk: A meta-analysis of cohort studies. Front Psychiatry, 13.  
• Moreno, M.A. & Uhls, Y.T. (2019). Applying an affordances approach and a developmental lens to approach adolescent social media use. Digital Health, 5.    
• Moreno, M.A., Binger K., Zhao Q., Eickhoff J., Minich M., & Uhls Y.T. (2022). Digital technology and media use by adolescents: Latent class analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research Pediatrics and Parenting 5.  
• Orben, A., Przybylski, A.K., Blakemore, S., & Kievit, R. A. (2022). Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media. Nature Communications, 3.   
• Tang, S., Werner-Seidler, A., Torok, M., Mackinnon, A. J., & Christensen, H. (2021). The relationship between screen time and mental health in young people: A systematic review of longitudinal studies. Clinical psychology review, 86, 102021.
• Verbeij, T., Pouwels, J. L., Beyens, I., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2021). The accuracy and validity of self-reported social media use measures among adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 3, 100090.    

Age: 9-14, 15-16, middle adolescents, early adolescents, middle school, high school

Topics: Screen time, social media

Role: Educator