The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to laws and policies that include national school closures, lockdown or shelter-in-place laws, and social-distancing recommendations that may translate to higher overall screen time among children and adolescents for the duration of the enforcement of these laws and policies. These policies may need to be periodically reinstated to control future COVID-19 recurrences or other national emergencies. Excessive screen time is associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance because it increases sedentary time and is associated with snacking (1).

Although prior policy statements from organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have suggested specific limits on screen time (ie,< 1 to 2 h/d) for entertainment purposes (2), the most recent policy statement published in 2016 advocated for families to make an individualized family media-use plan (3) without specifying universal daily screen time limits. Mitigating the potential adverse health consequences of screen time may be an important consideration in a family’s media-use plan.