Screen Time

Can you find any research that tells us screens are good for us? Sort of—but it depends on what we mean by "screens" and how they are used.

Screens can connect grandparents to grandkids over video chat, provide access to excellent teaching, help children with disabilities communicate, and even allow teens to create rather than merely consume. So the question isn't whether screens can do some good. The question is whether the trade-offs are worth it—especially in the years when a child's brain is being wired for attention, language, emotional regulation, sleep, and empathy.

One neuroimaging study of preschool-aged children (a relatively small sample) compared kids with higher and lower amounts of screen exposure. Research found associations between heavier screen use and differences in the integrity/organization of white-matter pathways—the brain's "wiring"—in regions tied to language and executive function. In plain terms: more screen exposure was linked to patterns that correlate with weaker readiness for skills we desperately want our kids to develop—learning, reading, attention, and self-control.

Tech leaders already know this, and have famously limited their own children's screen time. Peter Thiel, the tech-billionaire, allows his young children 90 minutes a week. Snap's CEO Evan Spiegel does the same. Bill Gates did not let his kids have phones until they were 14.

This is why the American Academy of Pediatrics has urged families to be extremely cautious in the earliest years—avoiding digital media for infants and very young toddlers (with video chatting as the typical exception), and keeping screen time limited, high-quality, and parent-guided in the preschool years. The basic wisdom is simple: less, later, and together.

And then the challenge multiplies when screens become portable, personal, and constant—especially at school. Most of us have a Chromebook sitting around somewhere. The promise was obvious: unlimited information, personalized learning, and instant tools. But the human brain doesn't learn well when attention is continually fractured. Cognitive science has repeatedly shown that task-switching is costly. When attention is interrupted—tabs, notifications, a quick "check" of something—it takes time to refocus. We make more mistakes, remember less, and often take longer to complete the work. Even when the content is "educational," the medium can train the mind to skim rather than to think.

And then there's the phone—an internet-connected casino in the pocket. Jonathan Haidt has argued that the shift to a "phone-based childhood" has contributed to a youth mental-health crisis, and he calls for clear guardrails: phone-free schools, delaying social media, and restoring in-person, unstructured play and face-to-face friendships.

It's not just kids. A 2025 study of nearly 100,000 people found that short-form video use was consistently associated with poorer cognition and a decline in many aspects of mental health across both younger and older social media users.

Why does all of this matter? Because we live in a world where someone has to make choices for our children — and if we don't, the devices will. The question for Christian parents is not only whether our children can pass a test. It's whether we are raising people who can think, who can sit with difficulty, who can be bored without panic, who can love their neighbor face-to-face. Are we forming disciples, or are we forming consumers? That is the question technology is quietly answering for us — unless we answer it first.

Christian parents don't have the option of "no formation." Whatever trains attention shapes affection. The only question is whether we will let the attention economy do most of it.

So what should we do?

• Model repentance. If you want your children to change, let them see you change. The strongest "screen rule" may be a parent who can put the phone down. I'm writing this, having made my own mistakes, having told kids to watch something because I was tired or just needed to get something done.
• Presence before pixels. Put phones away during worship, meals, and bedtime routines. One easy way to do this is to Brick your phone at home. Or have a physical Bible at church instead of a phone. Ever check social media 10x during a sermon as you flip between the text and notifications?
• Form a household liturgy. Phones down at the same sacred times every day: meals, Scripture/prayer, and bedtime. Again, I'm speaking from what I wish I could do better. One step I'm taking is having a physical Bible vs one on my phone.

May God grant all of us wisdom, as we raise the people we love dearly to flourish as God enables.