One of the hardest parts of co-parenting screen time isn't deciding what's "right" — it's that two parents often start from completely different defaults, and neither one is working from a shared reference point.
These aren't clinical recommendations, they're starting points meant to give both parents something concrete to react to instead of negotiating from a blank page.
Ages 6-9
Many families in this range land somewhere around 45-60 minutes of recreational screen time on school days, with more flexibility on weekends. The bigger lever at this age is usually less about the total minutes and more about what's being watched or played, and whether a parent is nearby.
Ages 10-13
This is often where the two-household gap widens the most, since it's also when kids start wanting a phone or their own social accounts. A common middle ground is 1-2 hours on school days, with clearer agreement on cutoff times in the evening than on the total number.
Ages 14-17
By this age, hard caps tend to work less well than shared expectations — things like no phones at the dinner table, devices out of the bedroom overnight, and check-ins about what's actually being used rather than just how long.
The real goal
None of these numbers matter as much as both households agreeing to the same one. A consistent "good enough" rule beats a "perfect" rule that only one house follows.