How Much Time Do Kids Spend With Technology?

Twenty-first century children growing up in the United States spend an enormous amount of time with digital media. How much time do kids spend with technology? According a Kaiser Foundation study conducted in 2010, children between the ages of eight and 18 spend an average of 7 hours 38 minutes a day with digital media. When the use of more than one digital device at a time is taken into account, they spend more than 10-1/2 hours a day with digital technologies. Although these numbers are incredible, they should not be discounted. The Kaiser Foundation study examined more than a thousand families and had them keep extensive daily diaries to document the amount of time their children spent in front of screens and with other technology.

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Television is the largest culprit, with kids watching an average of 4 hours  29 minutes a day. Music is the second leading technology, with an average of 2 hours 31 minutes a day. Kids spend about 1-1/2 hours a day using computers and 1 hour 13 minutes a  day playing video games.

The Kaiser Foundation study Screen Shot 2015-07-13 at 4.46.58 PMcollected similar data in 1999 and 2004. In the 1999 study kids were found to have spent an average of 6 hours 19 minutes a day with digital media, which the 2010 study showed the amount of time to have increased to 7 hours 38 minutes a day. Kids between the ages of 11 and 14 spent the most time exposed to digital media, 11 hours 53 minutes a day. The youngest kids in this study, those between the ages of 8 and 10, spent an average of 7 hours 51 minutes a day using technology. Teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 had 11 hours 23 minutes of total media exposure a day.

This data is concerning for 21st Screen Shot 2015-07-13 at 4.45.16 PMcentury children and may present additional concerns for children with ADHD and other learning and psychiatric issues.

 

 

 

 

 

Featured Image Credit: Games for Change

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4 thoughts on “How Much Time Do Kids Spend With Technology?

  1. This is outrageously horrible. (Not the website, but the fact that kids spend so much time on electronics.) Kids should be outside more, getting energetic and more.

  2. I agree. Kids aren’t getting enough exercise and when they’re siblings are staying inside doing nothing but play on electronics, then they aren’t learning anything, they’re used to just playing by themselves.

    I have a friend who’s family never comes outside, they came outside maybe once this year but my best friend always comes out. Even though her siblings never do, she comes out because of me. We like to play with each other. Sometimes her brother will, but NEVER her sister. It’s sad because when her brother runs off the bus after school, he goes straight inside, then when I go to get my friend, he comes to the door with his iPad in his hands.
    I don’t like the world of technology, and how it has become too addictive.

  3. I do agree, now that schools are introducing iPads, tablets and computers children aren’t outside enough.
    It is truly horrendous.

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