In my previous post, I mentioned that our film reviews will be geared toward kids who are six and older because of kids’ development and attention spans. So I want to share some information that explains why I chose that age.

Not many organizations offer specific guidelines regarding the appropriate amount of screen time for various age groups. In a 2013 article by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on media exposure, the group recommends that children under two should not have screen exposure.

Beyond that, the organization suggests limiting recreational screen time to one to two hours per day for children and teens—but a recommendation that is the same for both three-year-olds and eighteen-year-olds is, obviously, incredibly broad.

In 2012, the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Fred Rogers Center issued a report on the use of technology and interactive media in early education programs. The groups agree with prohibiting screen time for kids two and under. And they go on to discourage early childhood educators from the use of passive screen time—simply watching TV, videos, DVDs, and other noninteractive technologies—during school for kids from two to five.

The Mayo Clinic offers information on the negative effects of too much screen time for children of all ages. These include the issues below:

• Childhood obesity
• Behavior problems
• Attention issues
• Poor academic performance
• Violent behavior
• Less time engaged in creative, active play

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) presents interesting research on the negative effects of screen time on the youngest kids. Here are just a few examples of consequences that are associative—in other words, the effects are greater the more time kids spend with screens:

• Screen time for kids under three can lead to delayed language acquisition.
• Screen time for kids under three is linked to poor sleep.
• TV viewing for two- to four-year-olds predicts an increased intake of low-nutrient foods.
• TV viewing for three- to five-year-olds is linked to a higher body mass index.
• Toddler screen time can lead to problems later in childhood, like poorer performance in math, less physical activity, and problems interacting with other kids.

In addition, according to CCFC, screen time is habit forming; the more time young children engage with screens, the harder it is for them to turn off screens when they’re older. This point is important because on any given day, 64 percent of babies and toddlers watch slightly more than two hours of TV or videos.

And screen time rapidly increases as children get older. Bearing this out is the AAP statistic that the average eight- to ten-year old spends almost eight hours each day “with a variety of different media.”

CCFC claims that if parents limit TV exposure during the first four years of a child’s life, however, it may decrease the child’s interest in it later. And TV programming—whether viewed on a TV or an alternative platform, like a computer or tablet—is still the main source of children’s screen exposure, according to AAP.

We tried to limit D’s screen time and waited until she was in kindergarten before introducing her to full-length films because of statistics like the ones above. Besides, the Speech Therapy Centres of Canada says that the average attention span for three- to five-year-olds ranges from around three to twenty-five minutes, suggesting that watching full-length movies may not be super enjoyable for kids in that age range anyway.