Finally, an evidence-based, don’t-panic guide from what to do on the subject of kids and screens.

Today’s babies often help to make their debut on social networking with the 1st sonogram. They begin interacting with screens at around four months old. But is this good news or poor news? An excellent possibility to connect around the world? Or the first step in making a generation of addled display screen zombies?

Many have been quick to declare this the dawn of a neurological and emotional turmoil, but solid research about about The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Stability Digital Mass media and TRUE TO LIFE the topic is surprisingly tricky to find. In The Artwork of Screen Time, Anya Kamenetz–an expert on education and technology, as well as a mom of two young children–takes a refreshingly useful look at the subject. Surveying a huge selection of fellow parents on their practices and tips, and slicing through a thicket of inconclusive research and overblown statements, she hones a straightforward message, a riff on Michael Pollan’s well-known ‘food rules’: Enjoy Displays. Not an excessive amount of. Mostly with others.

This brief but powerful dictum forms the backbone of a philosophy that will help parents average technology within their children’s lives, curb their own anxiety, and create room to get a happy, healthy family life with and without screens.