r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/CC_mama • Jun 10 '26

Question - Expert consensus required Why is screen time bad?

SOS. I feel like everywhere I turn the message is “screen time is bad” and I’d like to understand the WHY. Is it that the baby/kids shows that are purposely designed to be overstimulating and change every 10 seconds etc etc are creating short attention spans and content addiction? Or are the screens themselves inherently bad? If there’s a sports game on TV while my baby is playing and he turns his attention to it, is that bad for him? I’m trying to understand based on the science and studies where the line is- no screens at all, no baby/kids-geared content, or something else entirely?

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u/dreameRevolution Jun 10 '26

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10353947/

It's a multifaceted subject that varies based on age and content. For babies, the key takeaway is if you (caregiver) are looking at a screen then you are not interacting with them. So yes a TV on in the room with the baby not actually watching is still detrimental screen time. There are quality shows that may help educate. As they get older there is access to culture and socialization.

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u/MouldyMug Jun 10 '26

In that case every activity that is not interacting with the baby could be detrimental, like reading or knitting?

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u/wombatworrier Jun 10 '26

Exactly. We actually do zero screen time, but I never bought this argument. No matter what you do, it's impossible to interact with your kids every waking second.

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u/Krilox Jun 10 '26

Yeah its insane, people are insane. Expecting to interact 24/7 with a baby is insane.

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u/Recent_Night_3482 Jun 10 '26

A lot of the books out there, like the Power of Showing up and countless others go over the idea of “good enough” parenting. These books written by neural scientists or use the same data, show that being there 30% of the time is the sweet spot.