For most children, moderate recreational screen time is not harmful in itself. The risks cluster around what screens displace — sleep, exercise and face-to-face connection — and what children are exposed to. The budget exists to protect those things, not to make screens the enemy.

Yes. The commonly used guidance steps up in bands: very little under two, around an hour a day for ages 2-5, 90 minutes or so for 6-10, about two hours for 11-13, and up to about two and a half hours for teens — always with sleep, school and active play protected first.

Cut structurally, not by willpower: dock devices outside the bedroom, set a school-night wind-down, and replace one long screen block with an offline activity they genuinely like. Trim over two weeks rather than one brutal day, and keep the grown-ups on the same rules.