A New Report Finds 40% Of Kids Have Their Own Screen By 2 Years Old
And by 4 years old, 60% of kids have a tablet.
Screen time for children under 8 years old has reached nearly two and a half hours a day (2:27 hours) according to a new report, which took a look at post-pandemic media usage trends.
If you were a pandemic parent, you probably suspected that months of lockdowns and online school changed how children interacted with technology (did anyone else swear off TikTok forever, and cave two weeks into the pandemic?). Common Sense Media released its census on children’s media usage, where they revealed that plenty has changed since 2020.
One key finding was just how many children have regular access to screens. The report found that by 2 years old, 40% of children have their own tablet, with the number growing to 60% by 4 years old. By 8 years old, 1 in 4 kids have their own cellphone.
The report surveyed 1,578 parents of children age 8 or younger in August 2024. It is the fifth in a series of surveys tracking youth media use since 2011, with the last survey conducted in early 2020, just before pandemic shut-downs.
“This report is uniquely positioned as a post-pandemic examination of media use, and comparisons to the 2020 report shed light on changes in children's media habits over this time period,” the researchers noted.
The survey showed that children are using tech only slightly more than pre-pandemic, with total screen time up 13 minutes from 2020. How children use tech is evolving, however, with video game, short-form video platform and AI use seeing significant gains.
Gaming time has jumped 65% overall since 2020, increasing most significantly among 5- to 8-year-olds, jumping from 40 minutes spent gaming to an hour and four minutes.
Common Sense adjusted its 2024 survey questions to account for new tech trends. Short-form videos on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have become a new source of video content for children, with 18% using such apps on a daily basis. Common Sense separated this category out from online video content, including long-form YouTube videos, for the first time this year. They also introduced questions regarding AI use, revealing that 1 in 3 kids use AI for learning.
"Our youngest children are on the front lines of an unprecedented digital transformation," said James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media." From AI to immersive gaming, they're experiencing technologies that didn't exist even a few years ago. It's a lot to manage as a new parent, which is why we're focused on giving families and educators the tools they need to harness the benefits of innovation while building healthy digital habits from the start."
For parents, their children’s relationship with technology is a complicated one. 75% to 80% expressed consistent concerns about screen media in their survey responses, despite 3 in 4 parents also feeling that technology can benefit children, whether it be educational content or helping them find community. But Common Sense asserts that parents can strike a balance, as difficult as it may sometimes feel.
“While technology keeps evolving, what children need hasn't changed,” said Jill Murphy, Chief Content Officer of Common Sense Media. "While Parents can take practical steps: be actively involved in what your little ones are watching, choose content you can enjoy together, and connect screen time to real-world experiences — like acting out stories or discussing characters' feelings. Set clear boundaries around device use, establish tech-free times for meals and bedtime, and remember that media should be just one of many tools for nurturing your child's natural curiosity."
