The Cap Times is an independent newsroom serving Madison and Wisconsin. Sign up for the Morning Update to receive news in your inbox each morning.
Across Madison and beyond, children are spending a significant amount of time on screens and social media.
While there are some benefits of devices, such as certain educational platforms, local families are expressing growing concerns about the harm of too much screen time and social media.
The Cap Times spoke with three University of Wisconsin-Madison experts for their perspectives on how parents should navigate screen time questions with children.
B. Bradford Brown, a professor of human development in the Department of Educational Psychology, studies adolescent peer relationships and youth social media use. Brown advised that children under 3 should limit screen time to little to none, while older children can have more.
“(Between ages) 3 to 8 … it really isn’t as much a question of quantity as quality, except that the more limited the screen time is, the more likely young people are to engage in more productive activities,” he said.
Brown said younger kids can benefit from certain educational information online. For example, if a child doesn’t have access to resources like museums, they can use screens as an alternative.
While he believes youth should be allowed to use social media to connect with peers, he emphasized that life online is very different from real life, and kids may have a hard time distinguishing the differences.
“There are some potential bad effects that are not that much different as well, because if we’re constantly viewing other individuals’ projection of themselves, and not recognizing that those are highly selective, stylized projections,” he said.
While three University of Wisconsin-Madison experts offered different perspectives on the amount of screen time appropriate for children, the group largely agreed the quality of the screen time generally matters more than the quantity.
Kids need to be careful on their usage of social media and their presentation online, Brown said. Parents should set boundaries for their kids’ device use, though he stressed that media usage is complicated, and there isn’t a simple solution.
“There are also problems with sites that lead individuals down unhealthy pathways, and those may be in terms of health-related behaviors or psychological aspects of themselves,” he said. “Individuals can really get trapped in ways that just are psychologically or physically unhealthy for themselves.”
Roxy Etta, a child development and parenting state specialist at the UW-Madison Division of Extension, creates programs on digital media to help people raising children in Wisconsin. She recommends higher quality content for children and less than one hour of screen time per day for babies.
Etta pointed to some positive uses of screens. For example, younger kids can connect with family members through platforms like FaceTime, and children can learn valuable information from educational TV shows.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics sort of changed their recommendation to steer away from specific … hours per day because that has just proved to be really tricky for parents to stick to,” Etta said.
Etta thinks kids should know screens are not all bad, but they should recognize when things may not be right for them. She said parents’ media use is influential for their kids since they are role models.
Etta urged parents to be cautious about letting digital media take over kids’ and teens’ lives. Too much digital media can interfere with essential needs for children, including sleep, being outside, playing and physical activity. It could potentially cause language learning delays, she added.
For older kids, Etta said, social media and screens can be a great connector. However, it can make them feel bad about their body image and show them scary or violent images. The platforms could prompt feelings of depression, anxiety or loneliness.
“I think that sometimes kids and tweens (or) teens that are struggling with something unrelated to social media, it can not be helped, and it can actually be worsened by social media,” she said.
Ross Dahlke, an assistant professor in UW-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, studies how people use technology and how it affects their lives and well-being. Dahlke stressed the importance of parents having a conversation with their children about the benefits and drawbacks of their devices.
“Some children might find communities online that are positive for them,” he said, though he noted too much screen time could be harmful to in-person relationships. “There are some concerns that people become addicted to their smartphones and devices.”
Addiction to social media is one reason why mental health may be worsening in some children, so Dahlke said kids need to be cautious — but that concern comes with an important caveat.
“(What’s) most important,” he said, “is really reflecting on what makes you feel good and what makes you feel bad, or what’s good for you and what’s bad for you.”
Nora Garland was a member of Youth Press Corps 2026, a one-week student journalism camp held at the Cap Times.
Nora Garland is a student journalist who produced this article as part of the 2026 Youth Press Corps summer journalism camp, a partnership between the Cap Times and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Greater Madison Writing Project. Students’ work was overseen and edited by Cap Times journalists.
