What Parents Really Want to Know About Kids and Screens: A Recap of Our Webinar with Vivvi

We partnered with Vivvi, a childhood and early learning provider with 15 centers in NYC, to discuss what the latest child development research suggests.

Dr. Kristyn VanDahm, Director of Research & Development at Maka Kids, led a research-grounded conversation that moved well beyond the usual screen time debates. Instead of asking “how many minutes,” she invited parents to think in three dimensions: the child, the content, and the context. You can watch the full recording here.

In case you missed it, we’re sharing below the core framework put forth by Dr. VanDahm, plus answers to some of the questions parents raised during the session.

The Framework: The 3 C’s

Rather than focusing on screen time limits, Dr. VanDahm introduced a more useful framework for evaluating any media experience: the 3 C’s.

Child — Who is your child right now? Their age, temperament, developmental stage, and even their mood that day all shape how a screen experience lands.

Content — Not all kids’ media is created equal. Pacing, conflict resolution, and whether characters model real social-emotional skills matter more than we often realize.

Context — When, where, and how a screen is being used changes everything. A show before bed hits differently than the same show during a long car ride.

Here’s What Parents Were Asking During the Webinar

Is YouTube actually bad for my kid?

Not categorically — but it wasn’t built for kids. The platform wasn’t designed with child development in mind, and autoplay in particular can take things in unexpected directions fast. Dr. VanDahm’s take: parents are still in control of what gets turned on. Being intentional and selective matters far more than avoiding the platform altogether. (This is, of course, part of the problem Maka Kids is designed to solve.)

Is background TV harmful, even if my child isn’t really watching?

Yes, there’s meaningful research here. Even when a show is “just on,” background TV reduces the quality and quantity of parent-child interaction — even when parents feel like they’re still engaging. The conversations and play that drive early development get displaced in ways that are hard to notice in the moment.

My two kids are different ages — is it okay if they watch together?

Co-viewing across ages isn’t inherently a problem. The concern is only if screen time consistently displaces other developmentally important activities. A younger child picking up some incidental viewing while an older sibling watches isn’t the whole story — the relationship and home environment matter far more. And practically speaking: if the older child is watching something like Sesame Street, they’ll usually still watch it, even if they complain.

My child looks “entranced” during shows. Is that good engagement or overload?

It’s genuinely hard to tell from the outside. The most useful cue isn’t your child’s face — it’s the content itself. Fast, flashy, loud content is more likely to produce overstimulation. Slow-paced content with natural pauses is more likely to indicate real engagement. Anchor back to the 3 C’s: what is the content doing, and does it fit where your child is right now?

How do we end screen time without a full meltdown?

Predictability is the answer. Kids do much better with transitions when they know what to expect — if a child knows the routine is “two shows, then it’s off,” they have something to hold onto. It’s inconsistent limits that tend to cause the biggest battles. The goal isn’t less screen time per se; it’s a screen routine that feels stable and understandable to your child.

Are some screens better than others? Does device size matter?

Device size itself doesn’t matter much. What matters is what’s happening on it. Interactive content (games, apps) and receptive content (watching shows) engage different parts of the brain — neither is inherently better, and both can be valuable with the right context and co-engagement from a caregiver.

What about my own phone habits? Does that affect my child?

It does — and researchers have a name for it: “technoference,” meaning when a parent’s phone competes with the child for attention. Kids notice and mirror it. The practical advice Dr. VanDahm offered: make your phone physically inaccessible when you’re with your kids (put it in another room), rather than relying on willpower. The research suggests that works better than trying to resist the pull while the phone is still in reach.

Want to Be Part of What Comes Next?

Maka Kids is a kids streaming iOS app where every recommendation is evaluated through Imprint’s developmental framework. Parents can trust that the content their children love is also supporting their development.

References:

Guernsey, L. (2007). Into the minds of babes: How screen time affects children from birth to age five. Basic Books.

Guernsey, L. (2011, October 25). Screen time young kids and literacy: New data begs questions. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-guernsey/kids-media-consumption_

b_1029945.html

Lauricella, A. R., Russo, M., Robb, M. B., & Wartella, E. (2022). Determining quality in children's media. In The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents, and Media (pp. 498-505). Routledge.