Research: Parents Don’t Know How Much Their Children Use Cellphones or Tablets

Research shows that up to 75% of young children have their own tablet, and many infants start handling mobile devices before age 1. Due to the private, individual nature of these small screens, parents may have trouble knowing how much screen time their child is getting. A new study, “Young Children’s Use of Smartphones and Tablets,” in the July 2020 Pediatrics (published online June 1), used novel approaches to electronically track device use by children ages 3-5 years – an app installed on Android devices, and screen shots from Apple devices - and compared the data to parents’ estimates of the child’s media use. Researchers found most parents were poor at estimating their children’s screen time on these devices. Among the 121 children in the study with their own device, average screen time was 115.3 minutes per day. Over half (59.5%) of children used their device for an hour or more per day, including 18 (14.9%) who averaged at least 4 hours per day. Among parents, 35.7% underestimated their child’s screen time, and 34.8% overestimated their child’s screen time. The most commonly used app was YouTube, which was used by 36.7% of children, followed by browsers, camera and photo gallery, and video streaming services. However, the research showed that the children used hundreds of different apps, including general audience games, gambling apps, and violent apps that are intended for teens and adults. Researchers concluded that electronic data collection is the best way to study child mobile device use, since it provides details about the nuances of child media use such as content and time of day. Study authors suggest more research is needed that includes children from more diverse demographic groups and that includes data on all devices in the home.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.