For Clinicians
Tech overuse and misuse is negatively impacting the health and wellbeing of young people. Screen time too easily crowds out healthy activities like exercise, face-to-face socializing, and sleep. Families are struggling and need support. Pediatric providers and mental health specialists are trusted sources of guidance and are well-positioned to help caregivers navigate screen time decisions that affect health and wellbeing.
In collaboration with clinicians, ScreenSense created bilingual resources to help pediatric providers guide families towards a balanced and healthy relationship with technology. These resources incorporate current American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations alongside insights from leading researchers in the field. Grounded in both clinical guidance and real-world practice, our guidelines give providers evidence-based resources that address one of the most pressing health topics facing kids and families today.
ScreenSense provides clinicians with resources to help families balance digital habits with healthy child development.
“Healthy Tech Use Guides” are now available!
These concise, informative, and actionable resources are designed to support healthy tech use across different stages of childhood and provide clinicians a way to talk about tech with parents and caregivers. Handouts cover practical strategies such as setting boundaries, protecting sleep, modeling healthy tech use, and introducing technology gradually. All materials are available in English and Spanish and include QR codes linking to additional resources on the ScreenSense website.
There are four types of ready-to-share handouts that clinicians can distribute:
Anticipatory guidance by age group (ages 0-5, grades K-4th, grades 5-8th, grades 9-12th) to easily share during well visits
Topic-specific handouts to share as needed when parents are at critical junctures like managing a tablet, introducing a cell phone, or navigating social media use
A handout on the importance of protecting sleep from the influx of tech, including practical ways to get mobile devices out of bedrooms at night
A handout for teens - encouraging self reflection and creating open dialogue around tech. Teens often tune out their parents on topics like screen time and social media but just one or two questions asked by their pediatrician or other medical professional can open the door to important discussions about digital health.
The handouts are paired with our online guidelines by age and grade. Together, these resources help parents roll out tech slowly and intentionally with clear boundaries so screen time does not displace childhood essentials.
Learn more about these resources here, or email us at info@screensense.org.
Resources
Our recommendations reflect the latest research and guidelines from clinicians, child and adolescent development experts, and key organizations. Resources are listed below.
American Academy of Pediatrics: Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents (2026); AAP Media and Young Minds (2016; 2022); AAP’s Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health.
WHO’s Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age (April 2019).
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP): Screen Time and Children (2025).
American Psychological Association: Health Advisory on Social Media use in adolescence (2023).
U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory on social media and youth mental health (2023).
The Anxious Generation (Jonathan Haidt, 2024).
10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High Tech World (Jean Twenge, 2025)
Research and resources developed by Children and Screens.
Resources by Screen Time Action Network at Fairplay; for example, Be Tech Wise with Baby.
A parent’s guide to young children in the digital age, created by Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Ed.D.
Digital Media and Video Game Use Recommendations by Age, created by the Digital Media Treatment and Education Center.