{"id":211,"date":"2026-06-01T10:44:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=211"},"modified":"2026-06-01T10:44:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:44:44","slug":"the-trump-admin-wants-kids-to-put-the-phone-down-but-such-advice-falls-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=211","title":{"rendered":"The Trump admin wants kids to put the phone down. But such advice falls short"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Since smartphones have been invented, many parents have been concerned with how much screen time their children get \u2014 now even the federal government is essentially telling kids to \u201ctouch grass.\u201d Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services released a new surgeon general advisory warning about the adverse health effects of children and screen time. Repeatedly using the phrase \u201clive real life,\u201d officials in the advisory advise kids to put down their phones and \u201cbe in the moment.\u201d (Normally, such notices would be issued by the Surgeon General, but there is still no Senate-confirmed surgeon general 18 months into President Donald Trump\u2019s second term.)<\/p>\n

Read more It\u2019s not just high gas prices \u2013 inflation is now spreading through the US economy<\/a><\/p>\n

Official statements on screen time and children aren\u2019t new. Earlier this year, a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledged the issues with children and excessive screen time, too.<\/p>\n

In the HHS advisory, Trump administration officials encourage people to do what they call \u201cthe 5 Ds\u201d: Discuss, do, delay, divert and disconnect. They also provided recommendations for schools, policymakers and technology companies.<\/p>\n

However, none of the recommendations offered seeks to address why families and children are using screen time in the first place \u2014 or suggest more support that parents need to be able to offer less screen time. Additionally, researchers on children and screen are concerned that the advisory could worsen parental guilt and are misleading about the negative consequences of screen time as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis warning comes without the most basic systemic support structures families need to thrive in place: a federal paid leave policy, affordable and accessible childcare, and a real commitment to ensuring that mothers in this country are well,\u201d said Erin Erenberg, CEO and co-founder of the nonprofit maternal rights organization Chamber of Mothers. \u201cWe\u2019re not against guidance on screen use. We\u2019re against the idea that guidance alone is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erenberg told Salon the systems aren\u2019t working for moms. The United States is the only high-income country, and one of only a few countries in the world, without a national paid family leave policy. There is no paid sick leave for parents in the U.S., to give parents the opportunity to take care of their children when they\u2019re sick without worrying about missing paid work. Then there\u2019s the high cost of childcare. Federal data show that full-day childcare for one child costs about 9% to 16% of a median family\u2019s income in the United States.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re not against guidance on screen use. We\u2019re against the idea that guidance alone is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe want to encourage moms to see that the systems are not working for them, and to recognize what is possible when we come together to call these systems out and make change,\u201d Erenberg said. \u201cMoms are done accepting that we are the solution to every problem we didn\u2019t create.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s also often left out of these discussions is that these apps and devices are intentionally designed to keep people on them. In fact, there\u2019s a whole field of study dedicated to this called behavior design or \u201cpersuasive technology.\u201d Most recently, a jury found Meta and YouTube guilty in a lawsuit that claimed the tech companies built addictive social media platforms that harm children. The companies disagreed with the verdict.<\/p>\n

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In the HHS guidance, public health officials advise technology companies to design their products for \u201cuser well-being\u201d and to \u201cprioritize safety and privacy.\u201d But for families, the advisory lists suggested screen time limits \u2014 such as none for children under 18 months old, less than 1 hour per day for children under 6, and 2 hours per day for children between 6 and 18 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know from past research and work with parents that definitive limits can make parents feel bad or guilty or like they are a bad parent if they let their children engage with screen time,\u201d Dr. Courtney Blackwell, an associate professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Salon. \u201cBut the realities of parenting make it nearly impossible to avoid, and having a major authoritative body suggest that not abiding by the limits will harm their child will just reinforce unnecessary parenting stress and negative feelings of being a \u2018bad\u2019 parent when they do let their children engage with digital media.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research on screen time use and harms to children is \u201cinconclusive,\u201d Blackwell added, in addition to the impact of digital media on the health and well-being of kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe advisory only talks about the \u2018harms\u2019 and misses all the nuances,\u201d Blackwell said. \u201cScreen use is not inherently bad; we have 50 years of research on high quality educational television like \u2018Sesame Street\u2019 showing that preschool children can and do learn from digital media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time spent on screens isn\u2019t necessarily the issue correlated with well-being, Blackwell added. Instead, it depends on the child, the content, and the context in which it\u2019s being used.<\/p>\n

Blackwell said she would advise families to follow the AAP\u2019s 5 Cs, which builds off Lisa Guernsey\u2019s \u201c3 Cs\u201d of child, content and context. This guidance provides caregivers with information on how to manage screen time in a more nuanced way. \u201cEvery child or teen develops their own unique relationships with media based on their temperament, strengths, and how platforms personalize content,\u201d the AAP policy states.<\/p>\n

The HHS advisory provides a \u201ctoolkit\u201d with some ideas and strategies, but Blackwell said they are framed \u201cfrom the perspective that media is inherently harmful and that media is something parents need to manage and restrict or else their children\u2019s health and well-being will be harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe advisory could have more strongly recognized the realities of parenting in today\u2019s media-saturated world and the fact that digital media is a normal part of growing up today,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Read more Santos, Lindell, Proud Boys eye Trump\u2019s $1.8B fund<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Surgeon General’s screen time warning overlooks the daily realities of American families<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[270,374,375,376],"class_list":["post-211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-mental-health","tag-parenting","tag-screen-time","tag-social-media"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Trump admin wants kids to put the phone down. 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