Co-authored by Priscilla Li, MD, and Eunice Y. Yuen, MD, PhD

Screen time is used to describe activities that involve devices with screens, including cellphones, televisions, and computers. With the advent of the internet in the 1980s and widespread use of electronic devices in our daily lives, the topic of screen time has entered the zeitgeist of child development research. The Pew Research Center found that internet usage by teenagers in the United States has increased since 2015, with now 96 percent of those polled reporting daily internet use. A Children’s Hospital of Chicago study found that 81 percent of children under 13 years old own a personal electronic device.

Access to electronic devices has increased in school and home settings. Since the

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