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About this tool
Age-based daily screen limits from WHO and AAP guidance, with sleep, activity, outdoor and eye-break targets built into a 24-hour day budget.
The Child Screen Time Planner converts published paediatric screen guidance into one daily minute figure for a specific child, then tests it against a full 24-hour budget. It applies the WHO 2019 under-fives guideline (no sedentary screen time below age 2, no more than 60 minutes at ages 2 to 4) and the AAP position that from age 6 there is no fixed minute cap — screens simply must not displace sleep, physical activity, homework or daylight. Parents, teachers and childminders get a defensible number plus the sleep, activity, outdoor and eye-break targets that sit alongside it.
Open Child Screen Time Planner on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Every cap traces to a WHO, AAP or AASM figure rather than an invented house number.
Shows the free time actually left after sleep, school, routine, homework and daylight are counted.
Adds the two-hour daylight target and the 20-20-20 break count to the same plan.
Under 2 years the recommendation is none apart from live video calls; ages 2 to 5 should have no more than about 60 minutes a day of high-quality content. From age 6 there is no official minute limit — the test is whether screens are displacing 9 to 12 hours of sleep, 60 minutes of activity, homework and outdoor time.
Sustained near work is linked with digital eye strain — dryness, blurring and headache — which eases with distance breaks, and reduced time outdoors is a well-documented risk factor for myopia. The screen itself is not damaging the eye; the near focusing distance and the lost daylight are what the research points at.
Every 20 minutes of near screen work, look at something about 20 feet (6 metres) away for 20 seconds. On a 2-hour session that is 6 breaks totalling 2 minutes, and it lets the focusing muscles relax and the blink rate recover.
Guideline caps refer to recreational sedentary screen use, so schoolwork on a device is normally counted separately — this planner treats it that way. Educational screen time still needs eye breaks and still competes for the same 24 hours, so heavy homework days should mean a smaller recreational allowance.