How Much Screen Time Is Too Much for Kids? A Guide by Age
Tutela Team · Published August 2026 · Last reviewed 5 August 2026
If you're worried your kids are on screens too much, here's the first thing to know: you're in good company. Most Australian children spend more time on screens than the national guidelines suggest. That's from 2015 research 5, and the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network notes the figures are likely higher now 3. Australia's online safety regulator, eSafety, is plain about it: there's no single "magic figure" that makes screen time safe or unsafe 4. So this guide gives you the Australian limits by age, shows what actually counts, and explains why the number is only part of the answer.
Australia's screen-time limits by age
In Australia, the recommended limits sit inside the national physical activity guidelines. At a glance:
Age | Recommended limit (sedentary recreational screen time) |
Under 2 | None |
2 to 5 | Up to 1 hour a day |
5 to 17 | Up to 2 hours a day, not counting schoolwork |
For 2-to-5s and school-aged kids, the guidance adds the same note: less is better 2, 3. Under 2, the advice is simply none, though Raising Children Network treats a video call with family as a reasonable exception 6.
One quirk worth knowing: the official groups overlap at five, because the advice comes in two sets, one for the early years (birth to 5) and one for school age (5 to 17). A practical way to read it: if your child is five, either row is a fair guide, and which one fits depends on whether they've started school.
What actually counts
This is where a lot of parents get caught out, and fairly so. The limit is for sedentary recreational screen time — the sitting-still, entertainment kind. It doesn't include schoolwork, even homework done on a laptop or tablet 1, 3. So an afternoon of online maths homework doesn't count against the two hours. An afternoon of YouTube does.
Watching TV, sedentary gaming and scrolling all count. An active game that gets your child up and moving is a different thing. Homework doesn't count towards the recommended limit, and for little ones a video call with grandparents is usually treated as an exception too 6. The in-between cases are yours to judge: a documentary for a school project, or a group chat that's half chatting and half homework. No guideline can sort out every case in a real family's afternoon.
Why the number is only half the story
If two hours a day feels impossible in your house, you're not failing at something everyone else has managed. Most Australian kids go over the limit. The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network points to studies suggesting it may be as high as 83% of preschoolers and 85% of primary-school children 3. That's not a reason to panic.
What matters alongside the hours is what's on the screen, what it's replacing, and whether your child can put it down. eSafety makes the same point: the total time is one part of the picture, and the content, the context and your involvement matter just as much 4.
Two ways experts think about it
Major health bodies don't all answer this question the same way, and the difference is worth knowing about. It's less two opposing camps than a difference in emphasis: all of them care about whether screens crowd out sleep, activity and time with people. They differ on whether to put a number on it.
Some do. Australia gives the single 5-to-17 figure above. Sweden's public health agency went further in 2024, splitting the older years: up to two hours a day for 6-to-12-year-olds, and two to three hours for teenagers 8. Like Australia, Sweden counts recreational use only, not schoolwork.
Others lean on the whole picture rather than a figure. The American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't set a fixed hourly limit for school-aged kids, saying the evidence doesn't support a one-size-fits-all number 9. It points parents to a family media plan instead: screen-free times like meals, screen-free places like bedrooms, sleep and activity first, and other things swapped in so screens don't crowd them out 10. The UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has moved the same way: it has archived its 2019 screen-time guidance, no longer sets a number, and points instead to tailored, age-appropriate advice 11.
The Australian limit is still a sensible benchmark to start from. For an older child, though, the questions below matter more than the exact number.
What healthy screen use looks like
Our takeaway from reading across eSafety, the AAP and NSW's managing-screen-time guidance is a simple check, one that leans less on the clock and more on whether screens are crowding out what matters 4, 9, 7:
● They're sleeping enough, and screens go off before bed 10.
● They're still active during the day 1.
● Schoolwork, friends and family time aren't slipping.
● They can stop when it's time, without a fight every single time.
● What they're watching or playing suits their age.
● Some of it is creative or social, not just passive scrolling.
If most of those are true, the total on its own tells you less than you might think.
Small habits that help
A few small habits can make a real difference. Keep screens out of bedrooms, and off in the hour before bed 1. Make meals screen-free. It helps to model it yourself, since kids take their cues from what the adults around them do 7, 10. And when you do cut back, it can help to swap in something else rather than only taking something away 6.
Where to start if you're already over
If your family is well over the benchmark, there's no need to fix it all at once. A calmer way in:
● Watch a normal week first, without changing anything, so you can see where the time actually goes.
● Sleep and meals are practical places to start.
● Agree one change together, rather than imposing a list.
● Line up something to do instead, so you're swapping rather than only subtracting 6.
If screens seem to be seriously disrupting your child's sleep, schoolwork or friendships, it's worth a chat with your GP.
Questions parents often ask
How much screen time is too much? There's no single cut-off. As a benchmark, Australia suggests up to two hours a day of sedentary recreational screen time for school-aged kids, and up to one hour for 2-to-5-year-olds 1, 2. But eSafety is clear there's no magic number 4: what a child is watching, and whether screens are cutting into sleep, activity and time with people, matters just as much as the total.
Does homework count as screen time? Homework on a device is screen time, but it isn't part of the recommended limit. Australia's two-hour figure is for recreational use and specifically excludes required schoolwork 1, 3. It's still worth breaking up long stretches of sitting, whatever the reason 1.
Does watching TV count? Yes. In 2015 research, TV was the biggest single slice of kids' screen time, and it counts toward the recreational total 5.
What about a three-year-old? For ages 2 to 5, the guideline is up to one hour a day 2.
Is two hours realistic for a teenager? It can be a stretch. Teens do so much of their homework, socialising and downtime through a screen. That's separate from why some experts stepped back from a fixed teen number, which was that the evidence didn't support one 9.
The bottom line
Start with the number, but treat it as a starting line, not a finish line. The Australian guidelines give you a sensible benchmark. The rest is noticing whether screens are crowding out sleep, movement and the people your kids love. A five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old will land in very different places, and that's just as it should be.
Tutela Team · Published August 2026 · Last reviewed August 2026
The Tutela Team writes on online safety and connectivity. This is general information, not child-development or clinical advice. For concerns about your child's wellbeing, speak with your GP or a qualified professional.
To see what controls we include to help protect your household, visit our home internet plans.
Sources
1. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — Physical activity guidelines: 5 to 17 years
2. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — Physical activity guidelines: birth to 5 years
3. Sydney Children's Hospitals Network — Recommended screen time for Australian children
4. eSafety Commissioner — Screen time
5. Australian Institute of Family Studies — Children's screen time (LSAC, 2015)
6. Raising Children Network — Screen time: checklist for healthy use
7. NSW Government — Managing screen time
8. Folkhälsomyndigheten (Public Health Agency of Sweden) — Recommendations for balanced screen use among children, 2024
9. American Academy of Pediatrics — Screen time guidelines (see also the AAP's 2026 digital media guidelines explanation)
10. American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org) — How to Make a Family Media Plan
11. Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (UK) — Screen time and online harms: resources
