HHS Secretary Discusses Screen Time Limits for Children

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. traveled to Iowa this week to join state officials at the signing of a "Make American Healthy Again" bill. He spoke at an elementary school in Gilbert, Iowa, where he cited statistics on daily screen time for children.

"The thing that shocked me is 6-year-olds are spending two and a half hours a day on the screen, and then teenagers 8.5 hours, and all that’s longer than they spend sleeping," he told The Post.

A Surgeon General advisory issued Wednesday calls for bell-to-bell phone restrictions in schools and age-appropriate screen limits for children at home. The report recommends limiting total screen time to 60 minutes per day in schools. Kennedy said children miss opportunities to resolve disputes and process conflict when they interact primarily through phones.

"They don’t have the skills to process [conflict], so they just complain about cyber bullying," he said.

Kennedy, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, warned that addictive behaviors can reinforce each other. "The impulse to reach for something outside of yourself and to solve something that’s going on inside of yourself, probably is not something that should be reinforced when you’re young," he added. Kennedy stated he is focused on his current role and has no plans to seek elected office.