*By Christian Smith*
A recent report claiming that kids shouldn't have more than two hours of daily screen time has sparked a debate among parents and scientists, but the man in charge of Amazon's family and kids division thinks the debate is more nuanced than the study may suggest.
"All screen time is not created equal," Kurt Beidler, general manager of kids and family at Amazon ($AMZN), told Cheddar. "There's lots of wonderful things kids can do online, and we try to bring those experiences to kids."
The study published in [The Lancet](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(18)30278-5/fulltext) found a correlation between screen time and mental cognition. However, it didn't prove that increasing screen time decreased mental capacity.
To help parents monitor their child’s activity online, Amazon developed FreeTime ー a suite of parental controls for screen time, content prioritization, and data security.
The software launched in 2012 and enables kids to safely surf the web on devices like the children's edition of the Fire tablet, which includes over 20,000 e-books, videos, apps, and games tailor-made for a younger set.
Many parents are concerned with giving their kids access to an unfettered internet ー especially given the recent data hacks on platforms like Facebook ($FB) ー so Amazon built in a data security safeguard.
"Kids can do whatever they want in FreeTime Unlimited, and to the extent parents aren't comfortable with them doing that, they can see what the kids are doing, and they can delete that data if that's not something that they're comfortable with," Beidler said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-amazon-is-helping-parents-monitor-their-kids-activity-online).
Be Well: Fall Floral Arrangements
Salary is usually the deciding factor in a job search. Cheddar News' docuseries, "Ready 4 Work," highlights this and much more as it follows six people on their job-hunting journeys and how income is the main goal.
The Federal Trade Commission has begun notifying people that they may be entitled to some claims from Fortnite after a settlement from alleged deceptive business practices.
The Federal Reserve continues to meet over monetary policy but is expected to hold rates steady.
Eli Lilly is suing 10 medical spas, wellness clinics and compounding pharmacies across the country for allegedly selling cheaper counterfeit drugs.
Brenda LaManna, founder and president of Damselfly Flowers, and Warren Schorr, senior vice president with Crayola, joined Cheddar News to discuss how and why the famous Crayon company is launching an online flower business.
Ed Egilinsky, managing director and head of sales and distribution and alternative with Direxion, joined Cheddar News to discuss how short-term traders are preparing for any forward-looking guidance from the Federal Reserve about any potential rate hikes. Egilinsky also discussed how traders are looking at the overall banking sector for the short-term.
Mark Spoonauer, global editor-in-chief with Tom's Guide, joined Cheddar News to get a sneak peek at some of Apple's new products that are set to be released to the general public, including the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch.
Stocks rose Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's continued two-day meeting on its monetary policy.
Kraft Heinz said Tuesday it's recalling more than 83,000 cases of individually-wrapped Kraft Singles American processed cheese slices because part of the wrapper could stick to the slice and become a choking hazard.
