69传媒

Student Well-Being

The Real Reasons Kids Aren鈥檛 69传媒 More

By Alyson Klein 鈥 March 28, 2022 3 min read
An ethnic nine-year old boy plays a game on a digital tablet. He is sitting on a couch in a modern living room.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

The time that teenagers and tweens spend on YouTube, TikTok, and other video-sharing sites has taken off during the pandemic, while reading time among those age groups remains flat.

That was one of the key findings of a recent , a nonprofit research organization.

Media use鈥攄efined as everything from reading books to watching videos to scrolling social media鈥攂y kids ages 8 to 18 was already on the upswing before the pandemic. But the pace of the acceleration has quickened significantly due to technology-related media use.

Overall media use rose by just 3 percent for tweens (ages 8-12) between 2015 and 2019, and 11 percent for teens, or kids 13 to 18, over the same period. But in just two years鈥攂etween 2019 and 2021鈥攕ocial media use for both groups increased by 17 percent, to a little more than five and half hours a day for tweens and just over eight and half hours for teens.

The biggest increase came in watching online videos, which grew by 23 minutes per day for teens, and by a minute for tweens.

One survey finding that could be particularly troubling for educators: Only about a third of tweens and one in 5 teens reported spending some time reading for their own pleasure every day, about the same percentages as in 2019.

Yet reading is a key area of concern for schools trying to address the 鈥渦nfinished learning鈥 that happened during the pandemic.

69传媒 spend seven to 10 hours a day using online media

Overall, boys tend to spend more time using media generally than girls, and Black and Hispanic kids consume more screen media than their white peers. Kids from low-income families entertain themselves using social media and other online content more than those from higher-income families.

White teens spend an average of seven hours and 49 minutes a day consuming screen media for entertainment, compared with a little more than10 hours for Latino youth, and nine hours and 50 minutes for Black teens. And teens whose families earn $100,000 a year or more spent an average of seven hours and 16 minutes on screens per day, about two hours less than teens from families that make less than $35,000 a year.

Nearly a third of teens say that, if forced to choose, YouTube is the one site they couldn鈥檛 live without. Another 20 percent of teens picked Snapchat, a social media platform. And nearly one in six鈥13 percent鈥攕elected Instagram or TikTok.

While it may be tempting to conclude that extra time at home during the pandemic was the big reason for the spike in online video watching, TikTok may be at least partly behind that finding, according to the report. 鈥淧latforms like TikTok have continued to swell in popularity, and that may also be driving increased use,鈥 the report said.

What鈥檚 more, social media usage surged among tweens, with 18 percent saying they use it every day, compared with 13 percent in 2019. That should be a worrying finding, wrote Michael Robb, Common Sense Media鈥檚 senior director of research, in an .

鈥淐onsidering tweens aren鈥檛 technically allowed to be on social media platforms at all, this growth in use should be concerning for advocates for safe, healthy, social media platforms,鈥 Robb wrote. (Federal data collection laws prohibit kids under age 13 from using social media platforms.)

Surprisingly, the report notes, there wasn鈥檛 a big spike in video game usage during the pandemic, even though kids seemingly had more time to play games like Minecraft and Fortnight.

The report鈥檚 findings were based on a survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,306 kids ages 8 to 18, conducted Sept. 29 to Oct. 25, 2021. The findings were compared with a similar survey conducted in the spring of 2019.

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide 鈥 elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Student Well-Being Opinion 3 Things You Need to Know About Absenteeism
We studied the data from more than 1.5 million students. Here鈥檚 are some overlooked insights to boost attendance.
Todd Rogers, Emily Bailard & Mikia Manley
4 min read
Scattered school desks seen from above, some with red x's on them signifying absences.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and iStock/Getty Images
Student Well-Being SEL Has Become Politicized. 69传媒 Are Embracing It Anyway
Eighty-three percent of principals report that their schools use an SEL curriculum or program.
5 min read
Image of positive movement when attending to a student's well-being is a component.
Dmitrii_Guzhanin/iStock/Getty and Laura Baker/Education Week
Student Well-Being 69传媒 Don't Want to Talk About Politics, Either
The election is occurring at a time when many schools are discouraged from having tough conversations in class.
6 min read
Viewers gather to watch a debate between Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Angry Elephant Bar and Grill, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in San Antonio.
Viewers gather to watch a debate between Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Angry Elephant Bar and Grill, Sept. 10, 2024, in San Antonio. Researchers say students are more reluctant to talk politics this election cycle.
Eric Gay/AP
Student Well-Being Opinion Can Athletic Coaches Help 69传媒 Learn More in the Classroom?
School sports can provide an opportunity for mentorship.
8 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty