During a visit to Iowa, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a U.S. Surgeon General’s Warning, calling excessive screen use one of the most urgent public-health challenges facing children today.
Kennedy says screen overuse is affecting the health, development, and daily lives of American kids in ways that can no longer be ignored. He spoke Wednesday afternoon at an elementary school in Gilbert.
The report he released indicates the average American teenager spends eight-and-half hours a day looking at a smartphone or computer screen. Even more troubling, Kennedy says, is that six-year-olds average about two-and-a-half hours of screen time daily.
Kennedy’s federal agency is encouraging tech companies to display warnings about excessive screen time on apps and devices. HHS is also releasing a tool kit for parents, schools, and other child-care providers.
35 states now ban or limit cell-phone use in classrooms. Kennedy supports a “bell-to-bell” policy, meaning students cannot use a phone at any point during the school day.
His message to kids and teens, he said, is simple: life exists beyond the screen.
Before visiting Gilbert, Kennedy joined Governor Kim Reynolds at the Iowa Capitol as she signed a wide-ranging health-policy bill. It says tablets and computers may be used for no more than one hour in early elementary classrooms, plus those students must get an average of 40 minutes of physical activity each school day.
KIWA Staff Photo
