Ages 5–7
Screen time and online safety for ages 5–7
Kids start asking for their own logins and games. Set the defaults now — they’re much harder to claw back later.
Screen time — what experts recommend
Choose suitable content and protect sleep, movement, play and family time. For a five-year-old, also read the government’s 2–5 guidance linked in the younger age guide. Avoid treating a timer as the only measure of healthy use.
UK context: Separate family rules from formal guidance. Canada’s linked guideline suggests no more than 2 hours of recreational screen time for ages 5–17; this is not a UK rule or a quota specifically for social media. The UK activity guidance and international sleep advice address other parts of the day.
Total time across phone, tablet, TV, console and computer combined (school work usually excluded).
Evidence and practical considerations
- The 2019 Canadian developmental study followed children at ages 2, 3 and 5. More screen time at earlier ages was associated with lower later screening scores; it did not establish a two-hour threshold for 5–7-year-olds.
- A review covering school-aged children and adolescents found screen time associated with shorter or later sleep; it did not prove cause.
- Consider what screen time may be replacing: play, movement, conversation and sleep. These are practical questions, not a diagnosis.
Sources around the world
- UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines (July 2026)
UK Chief Medical Officers · UK
- 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, ages 5–17
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology · Canada (international guidance)
- Sleep duration guidance
NHLBI / US National Institutes of Health · USA (international guidance)
Typical digital behaviours
- Playing simple games (Roblox, Minecraft, mobile games)
- Watching YouTube for long stretches
- Asking to message grandparents on a parent’s phone
Risks that actually matter
- Stranger chat in games marketed as ‘for kids’
- Loud, fast, ad-heavy content shaping attention
- Accidental access to age-inappropriate videos
Settings worth changing tonight
- Use Apple Family Sharing or Google Family Link
- Turn on Screen Time / Digital Wellbeing limits
- Disable chat in Roblox account settings
How to talk about it
- “If anyone you don’t know talks to you in a game, tell me — you won’t be in trouble.”
Red flags worth investigating
- Secretive behaviour with the device
- Repeating phrases or slang that feel ‘older’ than them
If you want to know more from the experts
Studies, guidance and background reading
Hand-picked from paediatricians, regulators, academic journals and investigative reporting around the world. Open in a new tab.
- StudyAssociation Between Screen Time and Children's Performance on a Developmental Screening TestJAMA Pediatrics (2019)Canadian observational cohort at ages 2, 3 and 5; higher earlier screen time was associated with lower later developmental screening scores.
- ReportChildhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI)WHO European Region (2022)WHO childhood obesity surveillance programme; this overview is not evidence for a particular causal effect of screens.
- StudyScreen time and sleep among school-aged children and adolescents: a systematic literature reviewSleep Medicine Reviews (2015)
- ArticleThe Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Age Zero to EightCommon Sense Media
- VideoSmartphone KidsBBC PanoramaDocumentary on early phone/tablet use and behaviour.
- StudyScreen time and sleep among school-aged children and adolescents: a systematic literature reviewSleep Medicine Reviews (2015)Review of 67 studies; most found associations with shorter or later sleep. Causation was not established and results varied.