Parliament majority for national guidelines on recommended screen time for children

Parliament voted in favor of two motions to make a national guideline on how much screen time is responsible for each age group. This guideline for “screen time” should also be on the label given with the purchase of digital items, the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament thinks.

According to the initiators of the motion, Hanneke van der Werf (D66) and Barbara Kathmann (GroenLinks-PvdA), the amount of screen time amongst young people is increasing rapidly.

They referred to statistics provided by The Dutch Media Literacy Network, which reported last year that children up to six years of age spend an average of 100 minutes a day on digital media.

“Parents need clear information to judge what the impact is of screen time for children,” the two MPs wrote. "This information is widely available about healthy nutrition and exercise, but not for devices."

"I agree that large groups of children and young people spend longer behind a screen than is good for them," State Secretary Zsolt Szabó (Digitalization) responded earlier. "I also see that parents need clear information about screen times." He wrote that the government is already working on new guidelines.