Children under five should spend no more than an hour a day on screens, new government advice says.

Screen time for children under two should be avoided except for shared activities encouraging interaction, families are advised.

In addition, the government is considering Australia-style measures to limit or ban social media for under-16s.

The guidance was developed by a panel led by the children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, and the children’s health expert Prof Russell Viner.

Keir Starmer said the guidance would help families keep children safe and ensure they built healthy habits with screens.

The prime minister said: “Parenting in a digital world can feel relentless. Screens are everywhere, and the advice is often conflicting. My government will not leave parents to face this battle alone.”

Starmer added: “There will be some who will oppose us doing this. But whether it’s navigating technology, tackling the cost of living or balancing the demands of family life, I will always stand on the side of parents doing their best for their children.”

The guidance to parents on screen time for two- to five-year-olds advises them to “try to keep it to one hour a day. Less if possible.”

For the screen time that those children do have, families are advised to avoid fast-paced social media-style videos, and toys or tools that use artificial intelligence.

Bedtimes and mealtimes should be screen-free, with families advised instead to try background music, table games, bedtime stories and colouring.

Watching screens with children and talking and asking questions about the content is also better for a child’s cognitive development than letting them use them alone, the guidance says.

Shared screen activities could include video calling friends and family or looking through photos together.

About 98% of children are watching screens daily by the age of two, the government has previously said, and there is an impact on language development among those with the highest screen time.

Long periods of time spent on screens alone has a harmful impact on sleep, physical activity, creative play and interaction with parents, which are key to good development, the panel found in its review of the evidence.

However, limits on screen time should not be applied in the same way for children with special educational needs and disabilities using screen-based assistive technologies, the panel said.

It is hoped the advice will help children and families to have healthier relationships with screens, and use them in a way that does not risk holding back their readiness to start school.

Viner, who is a professor in adolescent health at University College London, said: “Too much solo screen time can crowd out the things that make the biggest difference – sleep, play, physical activity and talking with parents and carers.”

The panel also recommended in its report that parents should think about their own screen use in front of their children, and consider screen-free periods of the day for the whole family.

Dr Mike McKean, the vice-president for policy at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, welcomed the guidance to help parents protect “short, but developmentally crucial early years”.

“The growing emphasis on online and digital spaces has made childhood an even more challenging period for parents to navigate,” he said.

“For many years now parents and professionals have been forced to play a dangerous game of catch-up, desperately trying to find the right balance for their children.”