American teenagers now spend on average 7 hours and 22 minutes every day using screen media on a smartphone, laptop, tablet or other device, not including time spent doing homework or schoolwork on such a device, according to a new survey by Common Sense Media, an organization that studies technology use by children and families.
They spend on average 12 minutes per day reading print books.
Teens devote much of their screen time (39%) to watching TV or videos, gaming (22%), and social media (16%). Four percent is spent video chatting, 3% creating their own writing, art, or music, and 2% e-reading.
Common Sense Media says these proportions are virtually unchanged from 2015, when it carried out the same survey using a different sample group. One key difference, however, is that teens now get more of their video content from the internet rather than broadcast TV.
“Online video viewing is through the roof: More than twice as many young people watch videos every day than did in 2015, and the average time spent watching has roughly doubled,” Common Sense Media said in a report on its findings.
YouTube “clearly dominates” the online video space among children, the survey says. The increase in online viewing comes after teen smartphone ownership more than doubled from 41% in 2012 to 89% in 2018, according to a separate survey published last year.
Another key finding is that boys and girls are spending their screen time differently. Boys spend more time playing video games – 41% play daily compared to only 9% of girls – while girls spend more time listening to music and reading. Boys watch more online videos than girls by an 11 percentage point margin.
Tweens use screen media nearly 5 hours a day
Pre-teen children aged 8- to 12-year-olds – so-called tweens – use screen media less than teens but still spend on average 4 hours and 44 minutes using screen media devices.
Just about half (53%) of tweens’ screen time is devoted to TV or videos, and 31% to gaming. Few tweens use screens for video chatting (2%), e-reading (2%), or creating content (2%). Again, these proportions are virtually unchanged since 2015.
Like teens, many tweens are using YouTube. “Despite the fact that YouTube says it is only for those age 13 or older, 76% of 8- to 12-year-olds say they use the site,” says the report. By comparison, only 23% say they watch YouTube Kids.
“Watching online videos has become so popular among tweens that it is now the media activity they enjoy the most, with 67% saying they enjoy it ‘a lot’; four years ago, watching online videos was fifth in enjoyment among tweens.”
Screen Use for Homework
Many schools now assign homework that requires teens to use a computer to complete. Nearly six in 10 teens (59%) use a computer for homework every day, according to the new survey. On average they spend 41 minutes doing so.
“This is a substantial increase from just four years ago, when only 29% of teens said they used a computer for homework every day,” the study notes. The proportion is lower among tweens at only 27% who use a computer for their homework.
Normalization of Teen Smartphone Use
In a separate study published in June, Common Sense Media found that fewer teens today feel “addicted” to their mobile device compared to three years ago, even as smartphone use has increased substantially.
These opposing trends may reflect the fact that children are experiencing less pushback from parents as smartphone use has become normalized, the study suggested, noting that teens and their parents now argue less about mobile devices than they did three years ago.
The survey found that 43% of teens say they check their device a few times an hour, and more than half of teens who use a mobile device wake up at night to check social media or read notifications.
Why It Matters
- Today’s teens are among the first to come of age in the smartphone era, so there is little data available to help understand how smartphones affect adolescent development.
- Studies like this one give us new information about how families are coping with technological changes.
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