Introduction
The advent of digital technology has transformed the way in which children interact with the world. Indeed, the prevalence of digital media (DM) usage among children is a topic of growing concern in families, early childhood professionals and policymakers. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO, 2019) published guidelines recommending no screen time for children under two years of age and no more than one hour per day for those aged two to four. In Switzerland, concerns about DM are reflected in the presence of the topic on the websites of the most important institutions that are active in the field of early childhood, such as Pro Juventute (Pro Juventute, 2025), or Alliance Enfance (Alliance Enfance, 2022). These concerns often relate to potential impacts of DM on motor, socio-emotional, and cognitive skills (Sticca et al., 2025). Specifically, it is assumed that DM might displace other important developmental activities, such as physical play, caregiver interaction, and sleep (Mutz et al., 1993; Putnick et al., 2023). Indeed, there are numerous literature reviews and meta-analyses that point to potential undesirable effects of DM and, in particular, of screen time on various areas of child development (e.g., Barr et al., 2024; Karani et al., 2022; Mallawaarachchi et al., 2022; Paulus et al., 2021; Sticca et al., 2025; Vulchanova et al., 2017). Besides the potential negative and positive effects of screens on child development, these studies highlighted that the effects of screen time on child development depend on a series of individual and contextual factors. Research efforts in many countries have yielded data on the prevalence of DM use in young children but, to date, such data is lacking for Switzerland. Before meaningful claims or discussions about the scope of the issue in Switzerland can take place, it is essential to first gather empirical data on how young children engage with DM. Such data is critical for understanding young children’s DM usage patterns and will serve as a foundational step toward building baseline knowledge. This, in turn, is necessary for contextualizing developmental outcomes, informing parental guidance, addressing equity concerns, and designing effective, targeted interventions.
Because DM use among young children is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon (Reid Chassiakos et al., 2016), it is crucial to research conceptual models that can depict the complexity of family DM dynamics. The Dynamic, Relational, Ecological Approach to Media Effects Research (DREAMER) framework highlights a new approach to explore the family media ecology as dynamic interactions between context, content, and relational factors shaping the experiences of children’s media consumption (Barr et al., 2024). Thus, we not only assessed duration of screen-based and non-screen-based DM activities, but also accessibility to different digital devices in the household, characteristics of the content (e.g., age-appropriateness), and the context of child DM use (e.g., parental motivations).
