When Should Kids Get Screen Time? A Look at How Different Countries Are Drawing the Line

Parents everywhere are asking the same question: how much phone time is too much for a child? While most countries are still relying on parental judgment and school policy, a handful of governments have decided to legislate the answer — and the approaches vary wildly, from strict daily time budgets to outright bans.

Here’s where things stand around the world.

China: The Hour-by-Hour Approach

No country has gone further into the weeds on actual screen-time hours than China. Under rules from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the daily allowance is tiered strictly by age:

• Under 8 years old: up to 40 minutes per day
• Ages 8–15: up to 1 hour per day
• Ages 16–17: up to 2 hours per day

On top of that, there’s a hard curfew — phones belonging to minors simply stop working between 10pm and 6am. To keep tech-savvy kids from gaming the system, an “anti-bypass” function requires parental verification before any of these limits can be overridden.

This isn’t China’s first attempt at reining in youth screen habits, either. It builds on earlier rules that capped online gaming for under-18s at three hours a week, and only during specific evening windows on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Australia, Indonesia, and Austria: Banning Access Outright

Rather than rationing hours, some countries have decided the simpler fix is to cut kids off from certain platforms entirely, at least until a certain age.

Australia made history as the first country to pass this kind of law, banning children under 16 from using major social media platforms starting December 10, 2025.

Indonesia followed with its “PP TUNAS” regulation, introduced in March 2026, which began deactivating the accounts of under-16 users later that month. The country has also taken specific aim at Roblox, barring under-16s from the platform after designating it high-risk.

Austria approved a nationwide social media ban for children under 14 in late March 2026, with implementation planned for the following school year.

France and Poland: Schools First

Other countries are starting with the classroom before tackling broader access.

France has pushed proposals to ban social media for under-15s and to prohibit mobile phone use in secondary schools — building on a 2018 ban for pre-schools and middle-schools that has, by most accounts, been loosely enforced at best.

Poland is banning mobile phones in primary schools (covering ages 7–15) starting September 1, 2026, and the education minister has floated a separate plan to bar under-15s from social media entirely.

The Netherlands, South Korea, and Italy have also implemented school-based smartphone bans, largely driven by concerns over concentration and classroom behavior rather than screen time overall.

The UK: Guidance, Not Law — For Now

Britain has taken a softer approach so far. Rather than legislating hard limits, an expert panel has issued guidance advising no screen exposure for children under 2, and roughly one hour a day for children aged 2 to 5. The government is reportedly weighing Australia-style restrictions on social media for under-16s, but as of now it remains advisory rather than mandatory.

The Big Picture

Two distinct philosophies are emerging. China’s model treats screen time like a rationed resource — measured in minutes, enforced by curfew, and locked down against workarounds. Australia, Indonesia, and Austria have taken the opposite route: rather than managing how much time kids spend online, they’re restricting whether kids can access certain platforms at all until they’re older. Most of Europe sits somewhere in between, favoring school-based bans and non-binding guidance over hard legal caps on daily hours.

Whether any of these approaches actually work — and whether they can be enforced against tech-savvy teenagers — remains an open question. But it’s clear that “let the parents figure it out” is no longer the default policy stance it once was.