Children's Media Research and Reform Lab
AS FEATURED BY
LATEST NEWS
2026 TEDx - SCREEN TIME FOR CHILDREN UNDER 2: FIXING A BROKEN SYSTEM
2026 PARENTS AS TEACHERS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE KEYNOTE
CMRRL's mission is to ensure the key adults in a young child’s world, and the children they love and care for, are Screen Smart and Screen Safe from the Start.
RESEARCH AND SOLUTIONS
CMRRL bridges the gap between developmental science, evidence-based research, and screen time literacy to ensure our children’s first digital experiences meet the same standards of care, intention, and safety as every other pillar of early childhood development.
POLICY AND INDUSTRY REFORM
Parents bear the brunt of the blame, the shame, and the anxiety, while everyone else in this ecosystem escapes any meaningful accountability. CMRRL is fixing these systemic issues from the inside out.
"As a new father, I assumed two decades inside the very industry shaping children's media would help me cut through all the noise. Instead, I found an endless scroll of advice that led to fear, anxiety, and confusion. And when I turned to the experts, I was told to abstain and felt ashamed when that advice did not meet my reality."
Will Maurer, Executive Director, CMRRL
THE SCREEN TIME TRAP
Nearly all global health organizations advise: 'No Screens Before 2.'
While we agree that screens should be avoided for as long as possible, we cannot ignore the facts:
4 months
Average age screen time typically begins
~1 hour
Daily viewing time by 6 months of age
75%+
Watching television before their first birthday
90%+
Watching television before age two
The concern:
– This is happening long before developing brains can process what they’re seeing.
– A child's brain reaches about 80% of its adult size by age two.
– Experiences during this period shape the foundation for all future learning, behavior, and health.
– Parents feel confused, anxious, and at a disadvantage when their reality doesn't meet the guidelines.
– "No Screens" guidelines have created a market, safety, literacy, and regulatory void that commercial companies have rushed to fill.
This is not a parenting failure.
This is a systemic failure.
Children's media is increasingly being engineered to capture and hold attention. This creates a level of dependency that is difficult to break.
Parents and pediatricians rarely have the training to recognize these harmful design elements, much less the tools to care for a child who has become dysregulated and dependent on them.
Closing the screen time literacy gap to help families avoid the screen time trap.
CMRRL has identified a critical gap in research, funding, and trusted noncommercial media options for children under 2.
Reform Starts Here
Current screen time policies are not only ineffective, they have created a knowledge, research, regulatory, and funding gap, while blocking support for Developmentally Designed solutions.
This has enabled commercial media companies to fill this void with attention-capture programming and deceptive marketing claims, without any accountability or guardrails to protect unsuspecting families. This is creating immeasurable downstream consequences.
But there is a path forward.
CMRRL IS CLOSING THIS GAP THROUGH THREE CORE OBJECTIVES
Pioneering Research
Nearly all existing research on the effects of screen time is conducted using commercial media. CMRRL develops research designs and stimulus that are centered on our 5D Mirror and ARC Frameworks.
Screen Time Literacy
Translating developmental science and industry expertise into evidence-based tools and resources for parents, educators, and practitioners that meet them where they are, with clarity and compassion.
Industry Reform
There are currently no policies or safety standards to protect young children from the harms of attention-capture design. CMRRL has created a noncommercial developmentally designed digital ecosystem for families.
DEVELOPMENTALLY DESIGNED
DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM™
Parents have expressed a critical need for non-commercial media options for children ages 5 and under. EYM provides Developmentally Designed programming, as well as attuned relational co-viewing and co-learning resources for their caregivers. EYM is free from advertising, algorithms, auto-play, investor interests, and production techniques that are beyond what a child can experience in their real world.
