Screen Time Limit
Compare a child's daily screen time against age-based limits.
About Screen Time Limit
Common guidance limits recreational screen time to about one hour for preschoolers and roughly two hours for school-age children, with very limited use before eighteen months. Comparing today's minutes against that number shows how far off the line the household is. Excess screen time crowds out sleep, outdoor play and face-to-face conversation, so a visible limit gives families a concrete negotiation point rather than an endless argument.
Formula
Screen Time Limit
Guideline: under 18 months avoid screens, ages 2-5 about 60 minutes, school-age about 120 minutes
- guideline
- Age-based screen time recommendation
Worked example
With the default values below, Screen Time Limit returns Suggested Daily Limit of 120. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Child age (years)accepts 0–18
- 7
- Current daily minutesminimum 0
- 120
Results
- Suggested Daily Limit
- 120 min
- Weekly Limit
- 840 min
- Minutes Over Limit
- 0 min
- Where You Stand
- Within the suggested daily limit
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Screen Time Limit
- 3Suggested Daily Limit= 120 min
- 4Weekly Limit= 840 min
- 5Minutes Over Limit= 0 min
- 6Where You Stand= Within the suggested daily limit
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 2 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to whole numbers, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- Limits are suggestions; educational content and co-viewing are treated differently by experts.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Limits are suggestions; educational content and co-viewing are treated differently by experts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Screen Time Limit calculated?
Guideline: under 18 months avoid screens, ages 2-5 about 60 minutes, school-age about 120 minutes Common guidance limits recreational screen time to about one hour for preschoolers and roughly two hours for school-age children, with very limited use before eighteen months. Comparing today's minutes against that number shows how far off the line the household is.
Why does Screen Time Limit matter?
Excess screen time crowds out sleep, outdoor play and face-to-face conversation, so a visible limit gives families a concrete negotiation point rather than an endless argument.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 2 inputs: Child age (years), Current daily minutes. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.