Screen Time Limits

Summary

---

Ask the Mediatrician – “Screen Time Limits”

Date: October 23, 2019
Hosts: Dr. Michael Rich (The Mediatrician), Christelle Lavallee
Main Theme: Reevaluating traditional screen time limits for kids and recommending practical, holistic approaches to balancing screens in children’s lives.

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Michael Rich and Christelle Lavallee tackle a common parenting dilemma: Is it realistic or beneficial to set strict daily screen time limits for kids, particularly with the demands of modern schooling and social interaction? Through answering a listener question, they examine the origins and limitations of the "two hours per day" rule, offer research-based insights into how media impacts children, and propose a new framework for responsible screen use that supports children’s development and family wellbeing.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Obsolescence of "Two Hours a Day"

• Origin of the Rule: Dr. Rich explains that the two-hour screen limit was crafted in 1999, focusing primarily on TV use, not accounting for the explosion of digital devices and online activities since then (02:01–02:37).
  • “We generated that recommendation on the basis solely of television use.” – Dr. Michael Rich [02:19]
• Change in Media Landscape: Back then, children weren’t using tablets for schoolwork, connecting through smartphones, or participating in social media.

2. Varied Impact of Different Screens

• Not All Screens Are Equal: Research now shows risks formerly attributed to all screens (like obesity) are actually specific to commercial TV, not to video games, internet, or smartphones (02:37–03:43).
  • “There is no relationship between video gaming, between Internet use, between computer use, between social media use, between smartphone use and obesity.” – Dr. Michael Rich [03:32]
• Media Use Context Matters: It’s more about “what they're doing with the media, how they're doing it and in what context they're doing it.” – Dr. Michael Rich [03:54]

3. Problems with Strict Limits

• Creating “Forbidden Fruit”: Banning or strictly limiting screens makes them more desirable and sets up conflict at home (04:11–04:45).
  • “If mom has to say you get no more than two hours of screen time, it becomes that much more precious ...” – Dr. Michael Rich [04:12]
• Family Conflict: Rigid rules often lead to battles over screen time rather than thoughtful negotiation or understanding.

4. A New Paradigm: The “24-Hour Glass”

• Time as a Resource: Re-imagine time as an “empty glass” filled with essential activities—sleep, meals, physical activity, homework, and screen activities as needed (04:47–06:51).
  • “Think of their 24-hour day as an empty glass that they fill up with this many hours of sleep ...and then see how much time is left.” – Dr. Michael Rich [04:47]
• Individualization: Each child’s needs and activities will differ by age and life stage. Support young children more directly, gradually giving older children more autonomy.
  • “It has to be different for each of her kids and it has to be adjusted through the kid's life.” – Dr. Michael Rich [05:18]
• Screen Use as an Option, Not a Default: Encourage kids to prioritize and mindfully distribute their time instead of defaulting to screens when bored.
  • “Let's not get in the place where it's a default behavior ... I'm going to turn on the television or I'm going to go online. Time is all we get. Think about it and use it wisely.” – Dr. Michael Rich [08:59]

5. Promoting Self-Regulation and Rich Experience

• Ownership of Time: Having children plan their day teaches them self-regulation and the value of attention.
  • “You are giving them again, ownership and control over their time and you're also de facto teaching them of the value of their time and their attention.” – Dr. Michael Rich [07:47]
• Screens as Tools, Not Toxins: Technology can provide meaningful, even irreplaceable experiences (e.g., exploring Mount Everest virtually); screens should enrich, not dominate, daily life.

6. Parental Role & Guidance

• Developmentally Appropriate Involvement: Parents scaffold and guide younger children, loosening control as kids develop self-regulation skills (08:11–08:36).
  • “As with anything in parenting, you are doing more scaffolding ... as they get older and learn to integrate that self regulation ... you let them run it themselves.” – Dr. Michael Rich [08:11]
• Praise for Media-Savvy Families: Hosts affirm that strategies like media-free meals and device-free bedrooms are already big steps toward healthy use (05:17–05:39).

---

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “The idea of two hours of screen time a day is actually obsolete.”
  – Dr. Michael Rich [02:01]

• “All screens are definitely not created equal ... what you’re doing with them, how you’re doing it, all of that we have to take into account.”
  – Christelle Lavallee [03:43]

• “Let's not get in the place where it’s a default behavior ... Time is all we get. Think about it and use it wisely.”
  – Dr. Michael Rich [08:59]

• “Enjoy your media and fill up your 24 hour glass wisely and enjoy your children. Be present for them. Put down your own phone and raise them with joy and wisdom.”
  – Dr. Michael Rich [10:01]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:24] Listener question from Eden: Managing screen time across different ages.
• [02:01] Obsolescence and history of the two-hour daily recommendation.
• [03:43] Research on which screen activities impact health.
• [04:47] The “24-hour glass” method for balancing activities.
• [05:39] Benefits of family meals and context for screen use.
• [06:51] Importance of experience diversity and context over screen time counting.
• [08:11] Adjusting strategies by child’s age and self-regulation.
• [08:59] Rethinking downtime and mindful time use.
• [10:01] Final advice: Presence, joy, and wisdom in parenting with media.

---

Summary

This episode challenges the conventional wisdom of strict screen time limits, proposing a personalized, context-aware approach to media in kids’ daily lives. Dr. Rich and Christelle advocate for empowering families to structure kids’ days around sleep, meals, study, physical activity, and mindful media use—accommodating modern realities and encouraging healthy self-regulation. The discussion blends practical advice with empathy for parents’ real-life experiences, stressing that technology, if intentionally and thoughtfully integrated, can be a positive force in children's development.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for a 12 month plan. Required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees. Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow when network.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

Hey, it's Dr. Michael Rich, the mediatrician. I'm a practicing pediatrician, a child health researcher, and a lifelong filmmaker who understands how powerfully screens engage and change us as people. As a doctor who takes care of kids every day, I see the struggles that many of them have with the screens in their life, from the smartphones in their pockets to the televisions and computers all around them. So I try to bring these two worlds together to help us all understand how to raise healthy, happy, productive children in a world filled with digital screens. Mediatrix educator Christelle Lavallee joins me here each week to address your questions.

[Christelle Lavallee]

And here I am. Thanks, Michael. So this week we have a question from Eden. She's a mom living in Birmingham, Alabama, and she wrote to us. I have three kids, a preschooler, middle schooler, and high schooler, and I like to think that we're a pretty media savvy family. All meals are media free and the bedrooms are device free. But that said, I find it impossible to follow their pediatrician's recommendations of no more than two hours of media per day. My oldest uses that up on his homework alone. So my question is, is that recommendation even feasible for a family?

[Dr. Michael Rich]

This is a great question and one that I think needs to be explored pretty deeply, both by parents, but also by the pediatric community. Because I think that the idea of two hours of screen time a day is actually obsolete.

[Christelle Lavallee]

But Michael, you're part of that pediatric community.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

I confess to that. And I was part of the committee that wrote that original recommendation in 1999. But what must be remembered about this is that we generated that recommendation on the basis solely of television use.

[Christelle Lavallee]

Interesting.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

And in 99, in 99, kids were not being handed tablets or Chromebooks at school. Kids were not given homework online, Kids were not connecting with their friends by smartphone. Kids were not watching YouTube videos. And so I think that what we have to do is take A step back and say, is there a difference between commercial television and smartphones, video games, Internet, et cetera? And frankly, the recommendations of two hours of screen time every day was generated on the basis of those TV data. But research that we've done at the center on Media and Child Health has found that screens are different and that the relationship, for example, between amount of screen time and risk of obesity and overweight is driven entirely by commercial television. It is not. There is no relationship between video gaming, between Internet use, between computer use, between social media use, between smartphone use and obesity.

[Christelle Lavallee]

So interesting. So it sounds like all screens are definitely not created equal or at least what you're doing with them, how you're doing it, all of that we have to take into account how they're spending their time on these screens.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

Absolutely. It is what they're doing with the media, how they're doing it and in what context they're doing it. So here's the other thing that worked with screen time limits is that it became the forbidden fruit. The screen became the forbidden fruit.

[Christelle Lavallee]

Yeah. What do you mean by that?

[Dr. Michael Rich]

In the sense of if mom has to say you get no more than two hours of screen time, it becomes that much more precious. And the moment you come home from school, you get in front of the

[Christelle Lavallee]

screen, that's what you're gonna wanna do. Yeah, absolutely, I get that it's a lot.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

You get in front of the screen and what happens two hours after you get in front of the screen? Absolutely nothing. So at 2 hours and 15 minutes, mom comes up and says, hey, you got homework to do, hey, let's have a family meal, et cetera. Oh, I want to level up in the game or I want to finish this program, et cetera. So it becomes a conflict every single time.

[Christelle Lavallee]

Yep, I hear that.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

So what we're actually recommending now that kids have a lot of screen time as her son does, that is required by homework, et cetera, is to take a step back and turn this paradigm upside down. Instead of limiting screen time to a certain number of hours to think with their child of their 24 hour day as an empty glass that they fill up with this many hours of sleep. And remember, adolescents need more sleep than younger kids do because of the rapid growth.

[Christelle Lavallee]

It has to be different for her

[Dr. Michael Rich]

kids, each of her kids, it has to be different for each of her kids and it has to be adjusted through the kid's life. So this many hours of sleep, a sit down family meal every day without devices which she's eating is on top of she's already doing it. But it is the single most protective thing, not just for nutrition, but for mental health.

[Christelle Lavallee]

Oh, wow.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

Homework time. Which might use a screen as her high schoolers. Yeah. Physical activity, hopefully outside time with the family, et cetera. And then see how much time is left. And what you're doing here is a couple of things. Number one is you are thinking of screens not as a default activity, but as one of many activities during the day. The second thing you're doing is having your child think deeply about what his or her priorities are, what they want to do, what they need to get done during the day, and then to manage their time. And God knows we could all do better at time management.

[Christelle Lavallee]

That's what I'm thinking right now.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

So it's being mindful about their use of media and placing it through the day in ways that make sense for them. And it's going to be different for every child and it's going to be different for the same child at different points in his or her life. And so instead of having screen time limits, let's limit screen time not because it is inherently toxic, but, but because of what it might displace.

[Christelle Lavallee]

What does that mean, displace?

[Dr. Michael Rich]

Well, if you are staring at a screen, you're not talking to mom or dad, you're not playing basketball, you're choosing, you might not be eating a meal with them. And so what we ultimately will serve our kids best with is to give them the opportunity to have a rich and diverse menu of experience which screens can be a rich part of, an important part of, and use them for what they do well. There's no other way that most people can get to the top of Mount Everest or can explore what it was like in the Civil War. And so let's use these screens for what they can do well and fit them into our lives in this rich menu of diverse experiences.

[Christelle Lavallee]

I love that. So really, instead of those screen time limits, you're providing them with screen time recommendations that they are building themselves out of what you were saying with that 24 hour day for each child.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

Absolutely. And you are giving them again, ownership and control over their time and you're also de facto teaching them of the value of their time and their attention.

[Christelle Lavallee]

I think that's wonderful. And Michael, just to be clear, can she do that because she has kids at very different ages. Can she do that with her preschooler and with her high schooler and then I'm assuming the middle schoolers in there too?

[Dr. Michael Rich]

Of course you do it in different ways with each child, with what they can manage. And as with anything in parenting, you are doing more scaffolding, you're doing more supporting, you're doing more the discipline and guidance with the younger kids. And as they get older and learn to integrate that self regulation and that self discipline into their lives, you let them run it themselves.

[Christelle Lavallee]

So Michael, just as a final note, because the last part of her question really, really resonated with me. It's almost not feasible, right? Those two hour time limits.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

So forget the two hour time limits. When they fill up that empty glass, their child might realize there's no time for screens, right?

[Christelle Lavallee]

Yep.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

Or there might be six hours for screens.

[Christelle Lavallee]

They'll discover it.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

But let's not get in the place where it's a default behavior when you don't know what to do. And what I particularly hate is talking about killing time. Right. I have nothing to do. I just got to kill some time. I'm going to turn on the television or I'm going to go online. Time is all we get. Think about it. Absolutely think about it and use it wisely.

[Christelle Lavallee]

I love it. That's great. Well, Eden, it sounds like you are doing a wonderful job already with your three kids. We hope that this helps you continue on that path. And for those of you out there who would like to find more information on topics like these as well as the science behind them, you can find links to all of our [e-mail] Remember, you can also connect with our Mediatrician on Twitter Mediatrician and submit your own [e-mail] thank you so much for listening, everyone and please make sure that you share and subscribe to this podcast.

[Dr. Michael Rich]

Enjoy your media and fill up your 24 hour glass wisely and enjoy your children. Be present for them. Put down your own phone and raise them with joy and wisdom.

[Podcast Narrator]

Ask the Mediatrician is hosted by Dr. Michael Rich, joined by Mediatrix educator Christelle Lavallee. Jill R. Kavanagh is our Chief Knowledge Officer. Original music composed by Christopher Cerf Podcast and music recorded, mixed and edited at Saturn Sound Studios Executive producer Alicia Haywood.

[Libsyn Ads Narrator]

Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention. You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads, go to Libsyn ads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.