How much screen time is right for kids?
An age-by-age guide for parents who are tired of guessing.
In short:
1. There's no single right number. The Danish Health Authority's benchmarks are in the table below.
2. When matters more than how long. A fixed routine is better documented than any minute count.
3. Owlyfi can help with the boundary — and does not monitor your child.
There's no single right answer
If you're looking for the one correct number, it doesn't exist. Screen time depends on age, sleep needs, and what the screen is actually being used for.
What research and health authorities agree on is the direction: younger children need markedly less than older ones, and content matters more than the minute count.
What the Danish Health Authority recommends
The Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen) issued concrete guidance in 2024. It covers leisure screen time — not schoolwork, homework, or a video call with grandparents.
| Age | Leisure screen recommendation | What matters more than the number |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 | No screen time without an adult actively involved | Screens don't replace play, language and closeness |
| 2–4 years | Max 1 hour a day — less is better | What's watched, and whether you watch it together |
| 5–17 years | Max 1–2 hours a day, depending on age | Whether sleep, school, friends and activity still get room |
| Adults (18+) | Max 3 hours a day | Children copy what they see at home |
Two pieces of guidance are worth holding onto because they're about timing, not minutes: no phone or computer use in the 1–2 hours before bedtime, and no screen or TV in a child's own bedroom, because it increases overall screen use.
Fixed routines beat negotiation
The most useful finding isn't about hours. It's about predictability.
- A consistent bedtime routine: over an hour more sleep per night than children who never had one.
- Consistency beats duration. A 2024 Penn State study found a steady bedtime tracked more closely with a child's emotional regulation than total sleep length.
- The device in the bedroom is the single strongest factor. Prospectively linked to shorter sleep a year later, in a study of over 9,000 early adolescents.
The point isn't that one specific hour is magic. It's that a fixed routine removes the nightly negotiation altogether.
Three situations most parents recognise
- "Five more minutes" at 9pm. A time agreed in advance removes the argument entirely. See what to do when a child is online all night.
- Homework never quite happens. A fixed weekday window works better than constant checking-in. See what network-level blocking can actually do.
- Not sure which controls apply to your setup? Compare router-based versus device-based controls.
Signs screen time has become a problem
The number on the clock matters less than what's slipping around it. A handful of signs are worth watching for, whatever age the child is.
- Sleep slips. Hard to wake, tired at school.
- Other things disappear. Friends, sport or meals lose out.
- Strong reactions to being asked to stop.
- The same argument every evening. If bedtime is the recurring flashpoint, the fix is usually the routine, not a stricter number.
How Owlyfi helps the boundary stick
Once you've agreed when the screens go off, it's the time that should hold — not a parent standing in the doorway. Owlyfi is parental control that runs on the router — not on your kid's phone. Create a schedule for bedtime, homework, or dinner, choose days and times, and the router repeats the agreement for the whole household or just one child's devices. The bedtime template starts at 21:00–06:30 every day. Change it any time, or pause devices when you need to.
- No app on your kid's phone. Owlyfi runs on your router, so there is no setting on the phone for your child to switch back on.
- No monitoring. No messages, no location, no browsing history. Owlyfi sets a boundary around the network — everything else stays between you and your family.
- Covers the whole home. Phone, tablet, console and PC on the same schedule — not one agreement per device.
Owlyfi manages home Wi-Fi — mobile data is not covered. Not sure which router you have? Read which router do I have. Owlyfi is in closed testing and launches on Android first — free, no ads.
Frequently asked questions
How much screen time is normal for a 10-year-old?
There's no single correct figure. Many parents land around 1.5–2.5 hours on weekdays as a reference point, but content, sleep and school matter more than the minute count itself.
Should I count schoolwork as screen time too?
Most guidance is about leisure screen time, not schoolwork. It makes more sense to watch sleep, mood and other activities than to lump everything into one total.
Is screen time the same as social media?
No. Screen time covers everything from video calls and homework help to gaming and social media. Social media is often what worries parents most, because it's designed to hold attention.
Can I set different rules for weekdays and weekends?
Yes, and many parents do. A schedule on the home network can easily run different times on weekdays than at weekends.
Does setting the boundary on the router work as well as on each phone?
Yes — it's network-wide, so the rule applies to every device in the home at once, without adjusting each phone individually. Owlyfi only talks to your own router at home; there's no app on your child's phone.
When should I start giving more freedom?
Most parents gradually extend independence from around 13–14 years onward, when conversation and agreement start to work better than fixed technical limits alone.
Sources
- Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen) — screen recommendations (2024) — the age bands and hourly figures.
- Fødevarestyrelsen / Sundhedsplejen — screen time guidance — source of the two cited recommendations on bedtime timing and the child's own room.
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine — children with a nightly bedtime routine slept over an hour longer per night.
- Penn State (2024) — a consistent bedtime tracked with children's emotion and behaviour regulation.
- Journal of Adolescent Health (2024) — a device in the bedroom was linked to shorter sleep a year later, n > 9,000.
All sources accessed 24 September 2026.
Free, no ads. Owlyfi is in closed testing — we launch soon.
Join the test