Young kids spend an average of 100 minutes of screen time per day

Young children up to the age of six spent an average of seven minutes more on screens per day compared to 2022. They now spend an average of 100 minutes a day on screen time, especially using a tablet, phone, or television. A quarter of parents of babies aged 0 to 1 say that their child spends at least two hours a day on screens, Netwerk Mediawijsheid reported on Friday after a study.

According to the study, one in five toddlers even uses digital media for more than three hours a day. According to the official guidelines of the World Health Organization, children up to the age of 2 should have no screen time, and children up to age 5 should have no more than one hour a day. Current media use among young children is, therefore, considerably higher, the Netwerk said.

The research also showed that digital media use often goes hand-in-hand with sitting still and that sitting still increases as children get older. A quarter of children age 0 to 6 are active while watching television, and half are active while listening to music or podcasts.

“In previous years, we often saw an increase in daily screen time among young children, and that now seems to be continuing,” said Peter Nikken, a professor of Youth & Media at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. He called it worrying. “Excessive use of digital media and too little exercise at a young age can negatively affect sleep and language development and promote obesity and myopia.”

Almost 80 percent of parents indicated they are satisfied with their child’s balance between sleeping, moving, and sitting. Parents have an essential role to play in this, said Netwerk Mediawijsheid, both in the field of exercise and the use of digital media. More than half of the parents in this study said that they are aware of this role. At the same time, almost half of the parents find it difficult to set a good example, for example, by not spending too much time on their phones. “We can no longer ignore that digital media are part of everyday life. But we can look at how, when, and for how long young children use them,” said researcher Anouk Tuijnman of the Trimbos Institute.

The Iene Miene Media study into media use in families with young children happens annually. The survey, carried out by research agency No Ties on behalf of the Netwerk in collaboration with Nikken and Tuijnman, was conducted among 1,076 parents of children aged nine months to six years.