The Answer to More Screen Time Is Not Stricter Limits

On the afternoons you are barely holding it together and the tablet comes out so everyone gets through the next hour, the thing driving that is not a rule you failed to keep. Researchers who study how families use media found that a caregiver's own stress is the strongest influence on a child's screen time, and their recommendation is not to tighten the limits. It is to get the mother more support.

The Stress Comes First and the Screen Comes Second

Caregivers under emotional distress were less likely to enforce a screen-time limit consistently from one day to the next. Those who felt overwhelmed by their child's behavior were more likely to reach for a screen to get through a hard moment. The findings come from a survey of 822 caregivers of children aged four to eight across the United States, published in the journal Family Relations by the Center for Children and Families at Florida International University.