Four screens, one room
It's literally impossible to follow the advice, when the advice contradicts itself.
I’m writing this on my laptop with the World Cup on television, my daughter next to me watching the game while also playing Roblox on her tablet, and my wife — away for the night — texting me about something else entirely.
Four screens, one room. Not a single screen-time guideline suggests we’re doing any of it right. But then, if you’ve raised young kids in the last decade, you know the advice isn’t exactly consistent:
No screens before two, and no more than an hour a day after that.
Or else, wait: It’s quality over quantity. And beware of blue light.
Oh, and you should co-view and keep an eye on what they actually do on screens, except that you also need to stop hovering.
Actually there’s also my new favorite contender: Kids should be off screens in school, except that maybe schools should also be embracing AI somehow.
A new study out of Edith Cowan University in Australia looked at what happens when parents actually try to follow that advice. It seems familiar.
The advice is the problem, not the parents
Researchers led by Dr. Stephanie Milford interviewed and ran focus groups with first-time parents of kids from birth to age four.
They wanted to know less about whether screens are good or bad, and more about how parents are actually experiencing the constant advice about them.
What they found: parents are getting contradictory messages constantly — strict limits from one source, relaxed guidance from another — and almost none of it reflects what a normal day with a toddler actually looks like.
“Parents are trying to do the right thing, but they’re getting mixed messages,” Milford said. “That contradiction creates a lot of uncertainty.”
Much of the messaging is also fear-based, and fear doesn’t help anyone parent better. It just makes people doubt choices they were already making carefully.
“That fear can make parents doubt their decisions, even when they’re making thoughtful choices,” Milford said.
What parents actually do
Most parents, the study found, don’t follow rigid screen-time rules at all.
They use screens the way most things get used in a house with small kids in it: flexibly — to settle a toddler down, to distract while making dinner, to share something together.
Or, in my case tonight, to let a kid stay occupied during a World Cup match while a parent finishes an article and a spouse texts about the weekend.
Milford’s team frames that flexibility as normal, and argues the guidance should reflect it instead of implying failure.
“Rather than telling parents to avoid screens, we should be helping them use them in ways that support learning and connection,” she said.
Their ask is simple: guidance that builds confidence instead of guilt, written for parents capable of making their own judgment calls.
Back to my living room
This is a qualitative study — interviews and focus groups, not a large survey. It measures how parents experience the advice, not what screen time actually does to kids.
Also, the parents involved were all Australian. (Maybe the over-sampled Bluey?)
My daughter is currently somewhere between the World Cup and Roblox, which is its own kind of multitasking I don’t fully understand.
None of this is what any guideline would recommend. It’s also just a regular day.
Bottom line: Guidance that doesn’t reflect real life in any likely way might be creating more guilt than anything else.
So, if you’re reading this on a screen with a kid nearby and a screen in their hand, too; well, maybe the advice is simply to do the best you can, and not let the onslaught of advice overwhelm you.
USA was up by two, by the way as I finished this article. I believe that we will win.
Other things worth knowing …
NYT: Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for Senate from Maine, said he was taking time to “reflect” on his political path forward as his support swiftly eroded after a woman accused him of rape. He has until July 13 to withdraw from the race, and if he does the state Democratic Party has until July 27 to replace him on the ticket, according to Maine state law.
CNN: Cuba suffered a nationwide blackout Monday as it faces an ongoing energy crisis worsened by an effective U.S. blockade on fuel shipments. The country has experienced several nationwide blackouts over the past few years as its aging electricity infrastructure struggles to meet demand; in March alone, it had at least two total blackouts within a week.
The Athletic: The United States was eliminated from its own World Cup after falling to a timid 4-1 defeat by Belgium in Seattle. Mauricio Pochettino’s side lit up the early stages of this tournament with its freewheeling attacking style, but it fell apart against a vastly improved Belgium. The USMNT’s exit means all three host nations fell at the round-of-16 stage.
Fox News: Bryan Johnson, a biohacker and longevity guru who has claimed “we may be the first generation who won’t die,” revealed he has an autoimmune condition causing his stomach to “eat itself.” The Los Angeles-based tech entrepreneur, 48, has previously said he hopes to live until 2140, when he would in theory be 160 years old.
NYT: A large group of masked men wearing the markings of the white nationalist group Patriot Front marched with flags and chanted “reclaim America!” in Washington over the weekend, as the capital prepared for the main events celebrating the United States’ 250th birthday. The group of apparently several hundred people carried various flags, including the Confederate battle flag.
Variety: Tilly Norwood, the AI “actor” who sparked a frenzy of anger in Hollywood in late 2025, is set to front her first feature film. “Misaligned,” announced by Particle 6, the AI-focused studio behind Norwood, is described as a comedy-drama telling a “coming-of-age story infused with existential AI chaos.”
AP: Mourners dressed in black flooded into Tehran Monday for a procession as part of the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with throngs of people calling for the death of President Trump. The massive turnout was encouraged by Iran’s theocracy as a sign of strength, and it came as the Islamic Republic negotiates with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war.
Thanks for reading. Photo by Coline Haslé on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this at Inc.com. See you in the comments.