Restrict screen time for tiny tots, says World Health Organization

Toddlers of the world, your screen time has just been cut to the bone, if the World Health Organization (WHO) has anything to say about it.

The U.N. health agency issued guidelines this week that call for drastically curtailing the amount of time the youngest spend in front of a screen. That goes for televisions, tablets, smartphones, video games, and other devices.

The recommendations call for no screen time for children in the first two years of life. For youngsters ages 2 to 4, the WHO said, daily sedentary screen time should be limited to one hour, and preferably be less.

The recommendations by a panel of global health experts are aimed at getting kids to be more physically active and to increase the quality and quantity of their sleep.

“Improving physical activity, reducing sedentary time, and ensuring quality sleep in young children will improve their physical and mental health and well-being, and help prevent childhood obesity and associated diseases later in life,” said Fiona Bell, program manager for surveillance and population-based prevention of noncommunicable diseases at WHO.

WHO said over 23 percent of adults and 80 percent of adolescents are not physically active enough for good health. The agency estimates that a lack of adequate physical activity is responsible for five million deaths a year globally. The panel’s hope is for the youngest kids to get into healthy habits early.

According to the global health organization, children ages 1 to 4 should spend at least 180 minutes daily in various types of physical activity throughout the day. When children are sedentary, the agency encourages them to engage in reading and storytelling with a caregiver.

The guidelines also said young children shouldn’t be restrained — think strollers, highchairs, carriers — for more than an hour at time.

Donna Cooper, executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, a Philadelphia-based advocacy group, said the recommendations underscore the need for greater investment in early childhood programs, including adequately trained child-care staff.

“These WHO recommendations are more evidence that we must radically overall our childcare systems so that every childcare program caring for babies and toddlers is using the power of play and activity to build the brain of babies and toddlers,” Cooper said.

Some, however, may find aspects of these guidelines a bit hard to live up to.

Charlotte H. Markey, a professor of psychology at Rutgers-Camden, said getting kids moving is a good goal, as is not allowing little ones to spend too much time in front of a screen. But, she added, families need flexibility to find their own balance.

“Raising a kid is a lot of work, and balancing kids’ needs with family needs is very important,” Markey said. “We know there is a lot of benefit, for example, to family meal time, but if you feel like you can’t let your child watch that show so you can make that meal, you’re in a conundrum.”