Every parent has asked it, usually while a child is negotiating for “five more minutes” of a show: how long before bed should the screens go off?
The answer is simple, and it comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics: one hour. No screens in the last hour before bed. Not forty-five minutes, not “after this episode” — one hour, every night, for everyone in the house.
That is the whole rule. The rest of this article is why an hour, what the research actually found, and how to fill that hour with something better than an argument.
What the AAP says
The AAP’s advice is plain: avoid using screens 1 hour before bed, and make evening screen time a family activity that ends at least an hour before bedtime. The guidance held through the AAP’s 2026 update, which moved away from strict time limits and toward quality, context, and conversation — the hour before bed stayed, because sleep is where screens do their clearest damage.
The same guidance says to keep devices out of bedrooms at night, and to make bedrooms and mealtimes device-free. For younger children the AAP adds: no screens before 18 months except video-chatting with family, and no more than an hour a day of high-quality programming for ages 2 to 5, watched together.
Why an hour?
Two things happen in that last hour. The first is light: screens shine bright light close to the eyes, late in the evening, when the body is trying to wind down. The second is excitement: a game, a video, a group chat — all of them wake the brain up right when it needs to slow down. An hour is long enough for both to fade.
That is also why “one more episode” never works. The episode is not the problem. The hour is the point.
What the research found
In 2016, researchers led by Ben Carter pooled 20 studies covering 125,198 children, and asked one question: what happens to sleep when a child uses a portable screen — a phone or a tablet — at bedtime? The link was strong and consistent. Bedtime media device use was associated with more than double the odds of not getting enough sleep (OR 2.17), poorer sleep quality (OR 1.46), and excessive daytime sleepiness (OR 2.72).
One detail is worth sitting with: children who merely had access to a device at night — a phone charging by the bed, not even used — also had higher odds of poor sleep. The phone does not have to be on to do its work. Its presence is enough.
Two honest notes. First, the studies show a strong link, not proof: children who sleep badly may also reach for phones more, and the studies cannot separate the two directions. Second, the studies covered school-age children, roughly ages 6 to 19 — the pattern is clearest for older kids, and the AAP’s hour rule is the cautious, practical answer for everyone younger too.
Source: Carter B et al. (2016), JAMA Pediatrics, 170(12):1202–1208, DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.2341.
What counts as a screen?
Everything with a glowing rectangle: phones, tablets, laptops, and yes, the television. The Carter research looked at portable devices — phones and tablets — because those are the ones that follow a child into bed. A television across the room is less intense than a tablet six inches from the face, but the AAP’s rule does not split hairs: screens off, one hour, all of them. Simpler rules get kept. Complicated rules get negotiated.
How to fill the last hour
The hour only works if something takes the screen’s place. A blank hour is a fight waiting to happen. Here is the simplest version:
Bath, then book. Warm water, then a story. It is the oldest wind-down in the world, and it still works — our phone-free bedtime piece walks through the whole routine.
Audio instead of video. An audio story or quiet music gives a child something to follow without light in the eyes. It is a screen’s calm cousin.
One quiet job. Drawing, a puzzle, laying out tomorrow’s clothes. Something with hands and no glow.
Same time, every night. The hour works because it is predictable. A child who knows the screens go off at 7:30 stops negotiating at 7:29.
What about homework and teenagers?
Older kids have real homework on screens, and a blanket rule can feel unfair to them. Two things help. First, homework is not entertainment: finish it earlier in the evening, and keep the last hour for winding down. Second, let the teenager own the rule. “Screens off an hour before bed — you decide what fills the hour” works better than a lecture about sleep hygiene, because it treats them like the young adult they are becoming.
A small pause, not a punishment
We are not anti-phone. We are pro-family moments. The goal is not to quit screens or to feel guilty about the ones already in your home. It is to protect one small moment where connection already wants to happen.
If one screen-free hour goes well, try another tomorrow. And if you would like to be part of what comes next, join the waitlist and help shape the first phone-free ritual. Read more about phone-free bedtime, or start with our family media plan and why these moments matter.
This article shares research and practical ideas for families. It is not medical advice. For guidance about your own family’s media use, the AAP’s family media plan resources are a good place to start.