# Kids moved 45 more minutes a day when screens were put away URL: https://sciencebased.news/kids-screen-time/ Published: 2026-10-11 Updated: 2026-10-30 Claim: Take the screens away and kids go back to playing, feel better and sleep better. Grade: Promising What to do: - For two weeks, everyone at home puts phones and tablets in a drawer after school and work, and keeps TV, computer and game time to 3 hours a week each. That is what the trial tested. - Parents join in. In the trial at least one adult gave up a phone too, and 97% of the children kept to the limit. - Expect about 45 more active minutes a day, more on weekends, and a child you would rate as calmer and kinder. Sleep did not change. - For toddlers: no screens in the hour before bed. Swap in books or puzzles. - Not proven: that the gains last past two weeks, or that less screen time prevents depression or anxiety in teens. # Kids moved 45 more minutes a day when screens were put away *Evidence check, October 11, 2026. Updated October 30, 2026.* > **The claim:** Take the screens away and kids go back to playing, feel better and sleep better. > > **Our grade: Promising.** In one randomized trial of 89 families, two weeks of almost no leisure screen time added 46 active minutes a day for children, and parents rated their behavior as better. Sleep did not change, the trial was short, and nobody has repeated it. ![A father and his daughter of about 8 laughing over a board game at a table, with a tablet lying face down in front of them](https://sciencebased.news/images/kids-screen-time-hero-2.jpg) Sam is 35. It is Saturday morning, and his 8-year-old has been on the tablet since breakfast. He wonders what would happen if it went in a drawer. Would she go and play, or just sit somewhere else and sulk? Children in one Danish study spent about 36 hours a week on screens outside school, a little over 5 hours a day [2]. The answer comes from that study, which took the screens away from whole families and measured what the children did next. ## Where the claim came from On June 10, 2024, Andrew Huberman's guest was Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University and the author of *The Anxious Generation* [1]. Haidt's words: "Kids used to have a play-based childhood." Since about 2010, he said, "our kids have a phone-based childhood," and it is "just incompatible with healthy human development." He gave four rules: no smartphone before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and more free play. Most of his evidence is trends over time and surveys that compare heavy and light users. Those show a link. They can't show what happens when you take the screen away. For that you need a trial. ## The trial that took the screens away Researchers in Denmark assigned 89 families at random to two groups [2]. The families had 181 children aged 4 to 17, about 9 on average. One group carried on as usual. In the other group, children and at least one parent handed over their phones and tablets for two weeks. TV, computer and game time outside school and work was held to 3 hours a week per person. Tracking apps and a monitor on the TV checked it, and 83 of 86 children kept to the limit [2]. Each child wore two motion sensors day and night. The children who gave up screens were active for 45 more minutes a day. The children who carried on as usual changed by 1 minute. After adjusting for age, the gap was 46 minutes a day, about 30% more active time outside school [2]. On weekend days it was 73 minutes. ![Bar chart of the change in children's active time outside school after two weeks. In families that put screens away it rose by 44.8 minutes a day. In families that carried on as usual it rose by 1.0 minute a day.](https://sciencebased.news/images/kids-screen-time-chart.png) ## Behavior got better, sleep did not Parents in the same trial filled in a standard 25-question form about each child's mood and behavior, before and after. The problem score runs from 0 to 40, and lower is better. It fell 1.67 points more in the screen-free group, a medium-sized change [3]. The biggest shifts were fewer emotional and friendship problems and more helping and sharing. Two cautions go with that number. The parents knew which group they were in, and they had just done something hard, so they may have scored kindly. And most of these children had normal scores to begin with [3]. Sleep was measured at home with a small brain-wave recorder for three nights. The children did not fall asleep faster or sleep longer [2]. For what sleep does in an adult brain, see [the fluid waves of deep sleep](/glymphatic-sleep/). The one sleep trial in very young children found a little more. In England, 105 families with toddlers aged 16 to 30 months were randomized for seven weeks. Taking away screens in the hour before bed gave slightly more solid sleep and fewer night wakings, but the gains were small and could be chance. Night sleep was no longer [4]. Two older trials looked at weight. In San Jose, 192 third and fourth graders in two schools either got 18 lessons on cutting TV and video games or did not. After about six months the children who got the lessons had gained 0.45 fewer BMI points and 2.3 cm (0.9 inch) less waist [5]. In Buffalo, 70 heavier children aged 4 to 7 were randomized to cut TV and computer time in half, or not, for two years. Their weight for their age fell more, and the reason was eating less, not moving more [6]. One more number from Denmark is worth knowing. The parents gave up their screens too, and their activity did not change [2]. The adults sat down somewhere else. The children got up and moved. So back to Sam. In the one trial that tested it, the answer to his question was yes: she went and played. On a Saturday, for about an hour more. ## What we don't know The trial lasted two weeks. Nobody knows whether children keep moving in week ten, or whether the boredom wins. The families volunteered, so they wanted to cut back. And the limit was strict, close to zero. No trial has tested a gentler rule, like one hour a day. Haidt's biggest claim is about depression and anxiety in teens. No trial has taken phones from teens for long enough to test it. A 2024 review pooled 102 earlier reviews, covering 2,451 studies. It found the links between screens and health were small. Social media and depression moved together only weakly, and reading scores were better, not worse, when parents watched along with their children [7]. ## Our grade | Claim | Evidence | Grade | |---|---|---| | Kids move more when screens are put away | One randomized trial, 181 children, 2 weeks, motion sensors | Promising | | Their mood and behavior improve | Same trial; parents scored it and knew their group | Promising | | They sleep better | No change in 181 children; small, uncertain gains in 105 toddlers | Weak | | Less TV slows weight gain | Two randomized trials, 192 and 70 children, from 1999 and 2008 | Promising | | Less screen time prevents teen depression | Surveys show a small link; no long trial | Weak | | Overall: kids do better with the screens put away | One good short trial, not yet repeated | Promising | The case for the other side: one trial in one country, two weeks long, in families who signed up for it. The behavior scores came from parents who knew what they had done. And screens are not one thing. A film with a parent is not the same as three hours alone with short videos. Rules on paper may not be enough either. In Australia, 197 after-school care services were randomized to a program of screen and activity policies or to carry on. After 12 months there was no overall change in how well services followed the guidelines or in how active the children were. Fewer than half of the services finished the program [8]. What would change the grade: a second trial that finds the same thing, or one that runs for months. A long trial in teens that measures depression would settle the bigger claim either way. ## What this means for you - Try two weeks. That is what was tested, and it is short enough to get a family to agree. - Put the devices away, in a drawer or a box. In Denmark the phones and tablets left the house, and nearly every child kept to the limit [2]. A policy alone did little in Australia [8]. - Do it as a family. At least one parent gave up a phone in every Danish family [2]. - Keep a small allowance. The trial allowed 3 hours a week each of TV, computer or games, enough for a film night [2]. - Leave the door open. You don't have to plan the extra hour. The children in the trial filled it on their own, most of all on weekends. - With a toddler, drop screens in the last hour before bed and use books or puzzles. The gain in the one trial was small, and it costs nothing [4]. - Don't expect longer sleep, and don't expect it to fix a child who is anxious or low. If you are worried about your child's mood, talk to their doctor. ## What's next The Danish team is running a new trial called PeerScreen. Groups of friends aged 13 to 24 will cut phone use to one hour a day for four weeks, with phones kept out of the bedroom. It will measure mood, sleep and activity [9]. That is the first trial aimed at the age group Haidt worries about most. For the adult side of moving more, see [the five health levers](/five-health-levers/). If time is your limit, [a few all-out sprints a week](/sprint-intervals/) raise fitness in about ten minutes. ## Sources 1. Huberman A, Haidt J. Dr. Jonathan Haidt: How Smartphones & Social Media Impact Mental Health & the Realistic Solutions. *Huberman Lab* podcast, June 10, 2024. Quotes from the episode transcript. https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/dr-jonathan-haidt-how-smartphones-social-media-impact-mental-health-the-realistic-solutions 2. Pedersen J, Rasmussen MGB, Sørensen SO, Mortensen SR, Olesen LG, Brønd JC, et al. Effects of Limiting Recreational Screen Media Use on Physical Activity and Sleep in Families With Children: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. *JAMA Pediatrics*, 2022. 89 families, 181 children and 164 adults, cluster randomized, 2 weeks. [doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.1519](https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.1519) 3. Schmidt-Persson J, Rasmussen MGB, Sørensen SO, Mortensen SR, Olesen LG, Brage S, et al. Screen Media Use and Mental Health of Children and Adolescents: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial. *JAMA Network Open*, 2024. Same 89 families and 181 children, parent-reported, not blinded, 2 weeks. [doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.19881](https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.19881) 4. Pickard H, Chu P, Essex C, Goddard EJ, Baulcombe K, Carter B, et al. Toddler Screen Use Before Bed and Its Effect on Sleep and Attention: A Randomized Clinical Trial. *JAMA Pediatrics*, 2024. 105 families with toddlers aged 16 to 30 months, randomized to three groups, 7 weeks. [doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.3997](https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.3997) 5. Robinson TN. Reducing children's television viewing to prevent obesity: a randomized controlled trial. *JAMA*, 1999. 192 children in two schools, one school randomized to each group, about 6 months. [doi:10.1001/jama.282.16.1561](https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.282.16.1561) 6. Epstein LH, Roemmich JN, Robinson JL, Paluch RA, Winiewicz DD, Fuerch JH, et al. A randomized trial of the effects of reducing television viewing and computer use on body mass index in young children. *Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine*, 2008. 70 children aged 4 to 7, randomized, 2 years. [doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2007.45](https://doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2007.45) 7. Sanders T, Noetel M, Parker P, Del Pozo Cruz B, Biddle S, Ronto R, et al. An umbrella review of the benefits and risks associated with youths' interactions with electronic screens. *Nature Human Behaviour*, 2024. 102 meta-analyses of 2,451 studies, mostly observational. [doi:10.1038/s41562-023-01712-8](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01712-8) 8. Maher C, Wolfenden L, Nathan N, Brinsley J, Ferguson T, Curtis R, et al. A Policy-Based Intervention for Physical Activity and Screen Time in Childcare Outside School Hours: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. *JAMA Network Open*, 2026. 197 after-school care services in Australia, cluster randomized, 12 months. [doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.36741](https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.36741) 9. Schmidt-Persson J, Gejl AK, Philipsen KB, Johansen MS, Mathiesen J, Taylor R, et al. Effects of reducing screen media use on mental health, sleep, physical activity, heart rate variability, and behavioral patterns in peergroups of young people: a study protocol for a cluster-randomized controlled trial. *BMC Psychology*, 2026. Trial plan, no results yet. [doi:10.1186/s40359-026-04827-5](https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-04827-5)