No screen time for babies, only one hour for children under five: World Health Organisation issues first-ever guidelines
- Critics say WHO recommendations fail to consider potential benefits of digital media
- Agency also says infants less than one year old should spend at least half an hour every day on their stomachs
The World Health Organisation has issued its first-ever guidance for how much screen time children under five should get: not very much, and none at all for those under the age of one.
The UN health agency said on Wednesday that children under five should not spend more than one hour watching screens every day – and that less is better.
“What we are cautioning on is overuse of those electronic screen times with young children,” WHO expert Dr Fiona Bull told a news briefing.
The guidelines are somewhat similar to advice from the American Academy of Paediatrics. That group recommends children younger than 18 months should avoid screens other than video chats. It says parents of young children under two should choose “high-quality programming” with educational value and that can be watched with a parent to help children understand what are seeing.
Some groups said WHO’s screen time guidelines failed to consider the potential benefits of digital media.