If you’ve ever wondered whether a little tablet time is okay or felt unsure about when to introduce screens at all, you’re not alone. Screens are everywhere, and the advice about them can feel confusing or even conflicting. That’s where Children and Screens comes in.
Children and Screens is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is based on four main goals:
Advance many fields of research
Inform and educate the public
Influence good policies for child health and well-being
Strengthen the field’s next generation of researchers
We know there’s a lot of different information out there about screen time and its impact on child development. Children and Screens provides you with the most accurate and up-to-date information about the risks and benefits screens offer children so you can make the best decisions for your family. The information is based on science, not the influence of political parties or funders, so the guidance on the site is designed for you and families like you.
The “Learn and Explore” page brings all of this research together in one place, organized so parents and caregivers can find exactly what applies to their child. Here’s what you’ll find and how it can support your parenting journey.
One of the most useful features for our First 5 California families is that Children and Screens’ research and resources can be sorted by age and stage, including infants (0–2 years) and preschoolers (3–5 years), in addition to older age groups. This means you don’t have to look through content meant for teenagers to find guidance that actually applies to your family. Whether you’re deciding if screens have a place in your routine at all, or how to make screen time count once you’ve introduced it, you can filter directly to research relevant to your child’s current stage.
The site organizes its research by topic, including Brain and Cognition, Mental Health, Social Media, Social Relationships, Video Gaming, and more. For families with children under 5, a few of these are especially relevant day to day:
Brain and Cognition: How screen use may shape a child’s attention, language, and early learning
Mental Health: How digital habits, even early ones, can shape emotional development
Social Relationships: How screens and technology can affect parent-child relationships
Parenting: Everyday guidance for the choices families make around media use at home
Because the organization pulls together research from multiple fields, from brain science to child psychology (how children think and feel), you’re getting a fuller picture instead of what a single study or headline could offer.
Not every parent has time to read a research paper, and Children and Screens understands that. Resources are available in several formats, including the Screen Deep podcast, downloadable Parenting Tip Sheets, one- to two-page Research-at-a-Glance summaries, and Ask the Experts webinars (online talks) featuring groups of experts.
This variety means you can choose what fits your day:
Short on time? A Parenting Tip Sheet or Research-at-a-Glance summary can be read in a few minutes.
Prefer to listen while you’re on the go? The Screen Deep podcast features conversations with researchers on topics like how digital devices are used to calm children and what the research says about artificial intelligence (AI) in education.
Want to go deeper? The Ask the Experts webinars bring together different expert groups to discuss and explain a single topic in detail, and many are also available as short video clips for a quicker watch.
Additional resources on the site include tips for sharing your child’s life online and how using devices to calm a child may affect their ability to self-soothe over time. These are the kinds of everyday topics many parents of young children find themselves thinking about, and it can help to know that trustworthy, research-based answers are just a click away.
Raising a child in a digital world doesn’t come with a manual, and the guidance can shift as new research comes out. Having one, trustworthy place to check back on that draws on real research can take some of the guessing out of decisions about screens in your home.
You don’t need to read everything on the site at once. Start with the age and stage that matches your child, browse a topic you’re curious about, and come back as new questions arise. Explore the full collection of resources at childrenandscreens.org/learn-and-explore.
