Recently the World Health Organization (WHO) released new health guidelines for children under five years old. The WHO now recommends that caregivers limit “sedentary screen time” to no more than one hour per day. Although some may have thought these new recommendations were grounded in the unhealthiness of the looking at screens or the content kids are watching—that is not actually the case. The WHO has made it clear that these recommendations are about replacing the sedentary act of watching a screen with more active activities. The reports states, “Replacing restrained or sedentary screen time with more moderate- to vigorous intensity physical activity, while preserving sufficient sleep, can provide additional health benefits.”
In spite of the WHO believing both screen-based sedentary time and non-screen based sedentary time are associated with outcomes like impaired motor, cognitive, and psychosocial development, it has not been able to confidently say whether one is worse than the other. However, the WHO has called for more research on the distinction between the different types of sedentary time.
To learn more about this, visit the World Health Organization's screen time press release.