How Much Screen Time Does The Average Kid Spend A Day?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

, , , ,

Most American children spend about 3 hours a day watching TV. Added together, all types of screen time can total 5 to 7 hours a day.

Contents hide

What is the average screen time for a 12 year old?

In the US, kids between ages 8 and 12 spend an average of 4 to 6 hours per day looking at screens, while teenagers may spend as much as 9 hours per day. Adults in the US spend even more time on screens – on average just over 10.5 hours each day.

How much screen time is healthy for a 13 year old?

How Much Screen Time is Healthy for Teenagers? For teenagers aged 13-16 years, it’s advisable to limit up to two hours per day of screen time. For teenagers and young adults aged 16-18 years, ideally less than 5 hours per day is optimal.

What is the average screen time for a teenager 2020?

There are a variety of different studies and ways that this has been tracked, but a study that was going around in 2019 and was covered by a bunch of major news outlets reported that the average screen time for teens is 7 hours per day .

Is 5 hour screen time bad?

What’s a healthy amount of screen time for adults? Experts say adults should limit screen time outside of work to less than two hours per day . Any time beyond that which you would typically spend on screens should instead be spent participating in physical activity.

Is 11 hours of screen time bad?

There is no consensus on the safe amount of screen time for adults. Ideally, adults should limit their screen time similar to children and only use screens for about two hours a day. However, many adults spend up to 11 hours a day looking at a screen .

How much screen time should a 11 year old have?

Kids and teens age 8 to 18 spend an average of more than seven hours a day looking at screens. The new warning from the AHA recommends parents limit screen time for kids to a maximum of just two hours per day. For younger children, age 2 to 5, the recommended limit is one hour per day.

What time should a 12 year old go to bed?

At these ages, with social, school, and family activities, bedtimes gradually become later and later, with most 12-years-olds going to bed at about 9 p.m. There is still a wide range of bedtimes, from 7:30 to 10 p.m., as well as total sleep times, from 9 to 12 hours, although the average is only about 9 hours.

What time do 13 year olds go to bed?

For teenagers, Kelley says that, generally speaking, 13- to 16-year-olds should be in bed by 11.30pm . However, our school system needs a radical overhaul to work with teenagers’ biological clocks. “If you’re 13 to 15 you should be in school at 10am, so that means you’re waking up at 8am.

How long should a 14 year old play video games?

Put clear limits on your child’s gaming.

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests time allotted should be under 30 to 60 minutes per day on school days and 2 hours or less on non- school days.

How many hours a day do kids spend on the Internet?

A landmark report released by Common Sense Media finds that teenagers (ages 13-18) use an average of nine hours of entertainment media per day and that tweens (ages 8-12) use an average of six hours a day, not including time spent using media for school or homework.

Why is screen time so bad?

Too much screen time can lead to obesity, sleep problems, chronic neck and back problems , depression, anxiety and lower test scores in children. Children should limit screen time to 1 to 2 hours per day. Adults should also try to limit screen time outside of work hours.

Should a 13 year old have social media?

At Protect Young Eyes, we operate under the assumption that no child for any reason should be using social media prior to age 13. Turning 13 is the minimum requirement , and is in no way an automatic approval for Instagram or anything else.

How much screen time is OK for a teenager?

They’re spending more time on screens than ever before. Which begs the question, how much is too much? The recommendation: According to the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, teens should only get two hours of recreational screen time a day .

How much screen time should a 15 year old have?

The rule of thumb for healthy technology use in 10 to 15 year olds is no more than an hour a day , while children ages 1 to 3 should watch little to no television at all.

Can screen time damage your eyes?

Too much screen time is a common pitfall in this digital age, and it can cause eyestrain in some people. But the chances of permanent vision damage are low . About 80% of American adults say they use digital devices for more than two hours per day, and nearly 67% use two or more devices at the same time.

What is the maximum screen time for a 14 year old?

Dr. Nauman encourages teens to be active 15 minutes for every hour of screen time and she stresses limiting overall screen time to two hours a day , excluding homework. Evidence suggests that media use can negatively affect sleep.

Do most 11 year olds have phones?

According to new report from Common Sense Media about teens’ and tweens’ media use, more than half of 11-year-olds now have a smartphone . If that seems like a lot of sixth graders with iPhones, consider that one-fifth of eight-year-olds—that is, third graders—now have smartphones too, up from one-tenth in 2015.

What is a normal screen time?

According to data from DataReportal, the average American spends 7 hours and 11 minutes looking at a screen every day. This is slightly above average and over half an hour longer than the British who average 6 hours and 25 minutes of screen time per day.

How much screen time should kids have?

For screen time, the guidelines recommend: no screen time for children younger than two years . no more than one hour per day for children aged 2–5 years . no more than two hours of sedentary recreational screen time per day for children and young people aged 5–17 years (not including schoolwork).

Why TV is bad for your child?

Good evidence suggests that screen viewing before age 18 months has lasting negative effects on children’s language development, reading skills, and short term memory. It also contributes to problems with sleep and attention.

What time should a 9 year old go to bed?

Age Hours of Sleep Bedtime 15 months – 3 years 12-14 6:00 -7:30 3 – 6 years 11-13 6:00 – 8:00 7 – 12 years 10-11 7:30 – 9:00 Teenagers 9+ See note

Should a 17 year old have a bedtime?

A 17-year-old shouldn’t need as many reminders about good sleep habits. Rather than give an older teen a strict bedtime, it’s better to educate your teen. Let them know how much sleep their growing body needs. ... Keep the focus on encouraging a healthy bedtime hour, rather than strictly enforcing it.

Why do teenagers stay up late?

Early school start times and packed schedules can take away from the hours needed for sleep. ... The body releases the sleep hormone melatonin later at night in teens than in kids and adults. This resets the body’s internal sleep clock so that teens fall asleep later at night and wake up later in the morning.

Is a 12 year old considered a child?

Legally, the term child may refer to anyone below the age of majority or some other age limit. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines child as “a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”.

What time should a 14 year old wake up?

If allowed to sleep on their own schedule, many teens would get eight hours or more per night, sleeping from 11 p.m. or midnight until 8 or 9 a.m., but school start times 18 in most school districts force teens to wake up much earlier in the morning .

Why do parents hate games?

Parents want to make sure that their children are safe and healthy . ... For example, if a video game has lots of fighting in it, they worry that playing it will encourage their child to be violent. They are concerned that their child might always choose to play a video game instead of playing outside and getting exercise.

Is playing 8 hours of video games bad?

Well, if you play 7–8 hours of video games a day, YES it is particularly harmful , you will have to take time out of other aspects of your life, (school, sleep) to accomodate your gaming time. You will also not be getting any exercise and watching a screen all day without breaks is potentially harmful.

Do video games rot your brain?

But new research has shown that those hours spent playing video games may not actually have been rotting your brain , as your mom or dad warned. In fact, if you spent your childhood playing Sonic and Super Mario, you were secretly priming your memory for the rest of your life, the new study says.

Should a 16 year old have a bedtime?

Most teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep each night . Some need as little as 7 hours or as much as 11 hours. It’s very common for children in the early teen years to start wanting to go to bed later at night and get up later in the morning.

Is 6 too early for bedtime?

It turns out that having an early bedtime isn’t just a perk that gives you more time to yourself at the end of a long day (although that is a really nice perk). Research has found that a bedtime as early as 6:30 or 7pm is needed for some children .

Is TikTok OK for kids?

What age is TikTok recommended for? Common Sense recommends the app for age 15+ mainly due to the privacy issues and mature content. TikTok requires that users be at least 13 years old to use the full TikTok experience, although there is a way for younger kids to access the app.

What age is OK for Instagram?

We require everyone to be at least 13 to use Instagram and have asked new users to provide their age when they sign up for an account for some time. While many people are honest about their age, we know that young people can lie about their date of birth.

How old is Snapchat?

How old do you have to be to get Snapchat? Age 13 is the minimum age to sign up for Snapchat.

What is the average screen time for a teenager on social media?

This report found that teens (ages 13-18) spent about 9 hours daily on entertainment media, including social media and entertainment media like TV, online videos, reading, and mobile games. Tweens (ages 8-12) averaged about 6 hours.

How many hours of TV do teenagers watch?

TELEVISION IS A MAJOR PART OF DAILY LIFE

Adolescents aged 9-14 spend over 20 percent of waking hours watching television, compared to 9 percent on hobbies and 3.5 percent on homework. The average American teen spends about 20 hours a week watching television , with the heaviest viewers coming from low-income households.

How many hours does the average teenager play video games?

Teenage boys spend three hours a day playing video games, compared with two hours in 2016, according to the same study. In addition, about a third of teens who play video games every day play three hours or more a day, a 10 percent increase from 2016.

How do you get kids off screens?

  1. Tip #1: “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen” ...
  2. Tip #2: Keep them busy. ...
  3. Tip #3: Put your phone away too. ...
  4. Tip #4: Mix up their routines. ...
  5. Tip #5: Keep them busy before dinner. ...
  6. Tip #6: Make meal times device-free zones. ...
  7. Tip #7: Swap the iPad for a Play Bag.

Does screen time affect children’s sleep?

A 2014 review found evidence that screens consistently intrude on sleep duration and cause delays in sleep timing . Most children have at least one screen in their bedrooms, and that easy access makes it difficult for them to put the screens away before bed and get a full night’s sleep.

Why should parents not limit screen time?

Screen time rules

The WHO does not provide specific limits for older children, but some research has suggested that excessive screen time for teenagers could be linked to mental health problems like anxiety and depression.

Does TV count as screen time?

“Screen time” is a term used for activities done in front of a screen , such as watching TV, working on a computer, or playing video games.

Does screen time cause depression?

Screen time and depression

But the truth is that looking at screens for several hours per day can worsen a person’s mood . Researchers in a 2017 study found that adults who watched TV or used a computer for more than 6 hours per day were more likely to experience moderate to severe depression.

Jasmine Sibley
Author
Jasmine Sibley
Jasmine is a DIY enthusiast with a passion for crafting and design. She has written several blog posts on crafting and has been featured in various DIY websites. Jasmine's expertise in sewing, knitting, and woodworking will help you create beautiful and unique projects.