Canadian doctors have ditched screen time limits for toddlers and preschoolers, instead urging parents to prioritize educational, interactive and age-appropriate material.
The new guidance released from the Canadian Pediatric Society did however still stress no screens at all for kids younger than two, except to video-chat with others such as grandparents.
The guidance also says that kids aged between two and five should restrict "sedentary screen time" to one hour a day.
Canadian doctors scrap screen time limit for toddlers
But a previous recommendation that set a firm cap of one hour per day for two-to-five-year-old's has been relaxed to allow for interactive and engaging forms of screen use.
This includes educational programs and family movie nights.
According to this guidance, screens themselves are not inherently bad but they displace activities that are key to child development.
Interference with development
Excessive screen use for young kids can interfere with language development, prosocial behaviour and executive functioning.
The new guidance stresses four principles - minimizing, mitigating, mindful usage and modelling healthy use of screens.
But rather than encourage more screen time, it's hoped that scrapping the minimum usage guidance will encourage parents and families to actively establish boundaries to passive consumption and examine when, how and why they permit screen use for young kids.
