The World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidelines on Wednesday that state "children under five must spend less time sitting watching screens," emphasizing that screen time should be replaced with interactive non-screen-based activities.
The big picture: Parents today are relying more than ever on digital babysitters and device-led playtime to entertain their children, with many not comfortable sending their children outside to play unattended. Screen time for children ages 0–2 more than doubled from 1997 to 2014, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics.