Is reading a book on a screen really “screen time”?

If you're wondering whether the book you read to your child on the tablet “counts” as screen time, you're not alone. It's a fair question, and the answer is more nuanced than yes or no. Here's how we think about it at home — without pretending the debate is settled.

Not every screen is the same

Putting a series that rolls into the next episode by itself in the same basket as a story you read side by side on one tablet is a bit unfair to the second one. A few simple questions help tell them apart:

• Is someone with the child? A parent beside them, commenting, asking questions, doing the voices.
• Does it end? A book finishes. A feed of videos has no last page.
• Does the child set the pace? Turning the page when ready, going back, stopping to look at a detail.
• Does it push you to stay? Autoplay, endless suggestions, flashing buttons: those are warning signs.

What the research says (and doesn’t)

We don't want to make up statistics for you, so let's stick to what's well established. A 2019 study published in Pediatrics (Munzer et al.) filmed parents and their toddlers reading print books and electronic books. The result: parents and children talked more, and interacted more around the story, with the print book. The researchers are clear that this doesn't mean e-books have no value — just a bit less than paper in that setting.

The takeaway: it's not the screen itself that's the problem, but what it can replace — conversation. A digital book that invites you to point, to guess, to laugh together is closer to what we want. One that makes a noise at every touch, a bit less so.

Paper keeps its place

Let's be clear: a paper book doesn't need defending. No battery, no notifications, nothing to recharge, and it can be chewed on. If your child has a shelf they love, keep it and keep feeding it. A book on a screen is a complement, not a replacement.

How we thought about reading in Toupie

We built the reader with these questions in mind, while staying humble about what an app can promise. Concretely:

• The reader shows one page at a time: the illustration on top, the text below, and you turn the page with a tap or a swipe.
• A book has a set number of pages (about 8, 15 or 25 depending on the size you pick) and a page indicator: you know where you're headed, and the story truly ends.
• It's designed to be read aloud by you, next to your child, not for them to manage alone in front of a screen.
• You review and adjust the text before the book is illustrated: you decide what your child is told.

We're not claiming this settles screen time for you. Setting the limits that suit your family, your child's age and your daily life is up to you. But for the reading moment itself, we wanted it to look as much as possible like what we love about a book: a beginning, an end, and someone beside you.

A few habits that make a screen serve the reading

1. Read beside, not instead. Hold the tablet together, or set it between you.
2. Pause. Ask “What do you see here?” or “What do you think will happen?” before turning the page.
3. Finish. A story that ends is also a good signal that the screen moment is over: “The end! Time to put the tablet away.”
4. Mix formats. Paper one night, tablet the next. What matters is that the story keeps coming back.

If you like the idea of a bedtime ritual built around a story, our post on the bedtime routine has a few ideas. And if you have a question, write to us — a parent on the team will reply for real.