LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Britain has told parents to

curb young children's screen time, advising no screens for

under-2s and up to an hour a day for 2- to 5-year-olds because

prolonged solo use can disrupt sleep and displace play and

exercise.

Governments worldwide have been moving to tighten rules

around children's online use, with countries including France,

Denmark and the Netherlands pushing for new age-verification and

safety requirements citing concerns about mental-health risks,

cyberbullying and exposure to harmful content.

Indonesia has also imposed tougher restrictions, with

under-16s set to be barred from using Roblox ( RBLX ) from

Saturday after the government designated the platform high-risk.

Britain's advice on the use of tablets, televisions, laptops

and smartphones, published on Thursday, marks the government's

most explicit intervention yet on early-years digital habits,

after it said parents had been left to "battle" devices alone.

PARENTS REPORT STRUGGLES WITH CHILDREN'S SCREEN TIME

A quarter of parents in Britain of 3- to 5-year-olds have

said they had struggled to control screen time, while 98% of

2-year-olds use screens daily, according to government figures.

The guidance tells parents to keep screens away from

mealtimes and the hour before bed, opt for slow-paced and

age-appropriate content, and watch alongside children to support

early language and social development.

"My government will not leave parents to face this battle

alone," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. He

added that families needed "clear, common-sense" advice amid

fast-moving technology and conflicting information online.

An expert panel, which recommended the guidance, suggested

that social-media-style, fast-paced videos and some toys powered

by artificial intelligence should be avoided for young children,

while screen-based assistive technologies used by children with

special educational needs should not be subject to blanket

limits.

Britain and other European governments have also been

weighing wider online-safety measures for older children,

including potential minimum ages for social media, overnight

curfews and restrictions on AI chatbots.

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google

negligent for features that allegedly harmed a young user in a

test case that could influence thousands of similar lawsuits.