Screen time and watching together

What the guidance says

• The World Health Organization does not recommend sedentary screen time for children under 1 or for 1-year-olds. For ages 2 to 4 it says no more than 1 hour, and less is better. When a child is sedentary, reading and storytelling with a caregiver is encouraged.^{1, 2}
• The American Academy of Pediatrics' 2026 policy statement says infants under 18 months learn best from real-world interactions, that watching together is the best way to know what children are seeing and how they respond, and to seek out quality content.³
• The AAP suggests starting screen-free zones with bedrooms and mealtimes, especially the hour before bed, and describes screen-free zones such as the dinner table, homework time and bedtime.^{3, 4}
• The AAP's earlier 2016 statement, now replaced, had suggested avoiding digital media other than video-chatting before 18 months, high-quality programming watched together from 18 to 24 months, and about an hour a day for ages 2 to 5. We list it so you can recognise those numbers when you see them elsewhere.⁵

How we design calm videos

These are our own design rules for every Lundbo video. They are about calm and clear endings, not about teaching.

• Nothing plays on its own. No autoplay video or audio, and sound is off until you turn it on.
• No next-episode hook. Every video ends with a goodbye, so it is clear when it is over, and points you back to the book.
• Slow, steady pictures. Scenes hold for around half a minute, with gentle motion such as blinks and swaying kelp.
• Pauses where a child can join in. For the youngest viewers, a few seconds of quiet after each question, then the answer.
• On the Little episodes, parent cards at the start and end that say how to watch together: "Pause and say 'cup' when Pim does."
• Captions on every video, no ads, and no tracking. Videos play from our own servers, not a video site.
• A bedtime mode for read-alongs with warm colours, low music, slow page turns and a calm The End screen.

Under two

Otter & Moon is first a pair of board books and lullabies. Its short Little episodes, three to five minutes each, are made only to be watched together with a grown-up. Given the WHO and AAP guidance above, you may decide to skip video for babies and toddlers altogether, and the books stand fine on their own.

Watching together

• Sit with your child when you can, and talk about what you saw afterward.³
• Choose quality content that puts children first, and keep mealtimes and the hour before bed screen-free.^{3, 4}
• When it is over, read the book. Reading and storytelling with a caregiver is the activity the WHO encourages most.¹