Parents memorized the number — under an hour for the under-fives — and then felt guilty in its general direction. But read the Canadian Paediatric Society's actual position and the stopwatch is the least of it.
The four M's it leads with — minimize, mitigate, mindful use, modelling — are mostly not about the child's screen. They are about ours. The toddler who can't get eye contact at dinner because of a phone is having a different developmental experience than the one who watched twenty extra minutes of a slow cartoon next to a parent who talked through it.
Count less. Co-view more. And accept the uncomfortable part of the evidence: the most influential screen in the house is the one in your hand.
Read the research behind this take →The four M's it leads with — minimize, mitigate, mindful use, modelling — are mostly not about the child's screen. They are about ours. The toddler who can't get eye contact at dinner because of a phone is having a different developmental experience than the one who watched twenty extra minutes of a slow cartoon next to a parent who talked through it.
Count less. Co-view more. And accept the uncomfortable part of the evidence: the most influential screen in the house is the one in your hand.
Sources
- Canadian Paediatric Society — Screen time and preschool children (2023) — cps.ca
Every claim above is drawn from the linked sources. This article is general information, not medical or legal advice — for concerns about an individual child, talk to your paediatrician or family doctor.
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