Kids Screen Time Calculator
| Age | Guidance band | The anchor that enforces it |
|---|---|---|
| Under 18 mo | video chat only | connection, not content |
| 2-5 | ~1 hr/day quality | co-viewing, no background TV |
| 6-12 | 1-2 hrs entertainment, school nights | homework first, family meal |
| 13-18 | balance, sleep is the hard line | phone charges outside the bedroom |
Screen time guidance bands by age: under 18 months video-chat only, 2 to 5 about one quality hour a day, and school-age kids get consistent limits set by the household rather than a federal number - with homework screens and FaceTime with grandma usually counted on a different ledger than the video autoplay.
Bottom line: the school-age arithmetic that survives contact with real life is a weekday allowance of one to two entertainment hours earned after homework, weekend flexibility by family, and the family meal and the hour before bed as screen-free zones - the two anchors that make whatever allowance you choose enforceable.
The honest part: the guidance number matters less than the co-viewing rule underneath it - content watched with a parent lands differently than autoplay in another room, and the calculator's honest output is a starting position for the family negotiation, not a pediatric prescription. The pediatrician's visit is where individual cases get individual numbers.
How to use
- Enter the kid's age band and read the daily guidance - then count what a real Tuesday adds up to, homework screens included on its own line.
- Set the two anchors that make the allowance work: screen-free family meals and the hour before bed, both enforced for the adults too.
- Let earned time run on the weekend differently from school nights - the same kid with two rulebooks is the reason rulebooks stop working.
Frequently asked questions
How much screen time should a 5-year-old have?
The pediatric guidance for ages 2 to 5 is about one hour a day of high-quality programming, co-viewed when possible. School-age flexibility starts at 6 - and the honest 5-year-old arithmetic is that one hour of chosen show plus zero background TV is already a full day, because the background stream counts for the attention even when nobody is watching it.
Does homework time count as screen time?
Most families count it separately, and the guidance backs them up: schoolwork screens are tools, entertainment screens are leisure, and the household rule works better written that way. The gray zone is the homework that turns into a video - the tab is the tell, and the rule that school tabs close before entertainment tabs open is easier to enforce than minute-counting the study session.
What is the recommended screen time for teenagers?
The guidance stops prescribing hours for teens and starts prescribing balance: school, sleep, exercise and face-to-face time first, screens filling what remains - with the sleep rule as the hard line, since the phone that stays out of the bedroom is the single highest-leverage teen screen rule. Two to four entertainment hours a day is where most family treaties land.
Are video calls screen time?
For under-2s, video chatting with family is the exception the guidance explicitly allows - it is connection, not content. For older kids it lands on the household ledger too, though the hour of FaceTime with grandma reads differently than an hour of autoplay, and every family writes that distinction into its rules eventually.