How Much Time do Your Children Spend on Devices?

A bipartisan group in Congress is hoping to make it illegal for children younger than 13 years old to access social media and require parents to consent before teens younger than 18 can use those platforms.

In Utah and Arkansas, lawmakers already signed laws requiring parental consent for social media users younger than 18.

Some say the effort is wasted, however, because social media organizations face challenges when it comes to verifying the ages of their users.

Past proposals have focused on creating privacy protections for kids who use social media and would require platforms to restrict ads targeted to kids that could potentially harm young users.

Some in the tech industry have pushed back, saying such efforts would restrict constitutionally protected free speech.

Meanwhile, TikTok has a one-hour time limit for those younger than 18, but users can bypass it by punching in a password.

A few years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an advisory recommending parents not only limit screen time for children younger than 1, but they forbid it altogether. For toddlers, WHO says no more than one hour of “sedentary screen time” is healthy; and limiting or even eliminating screen time for all children younger than 5 will help them be more physically active, sleep better and grow into healthier adults.