Average Screen Time for Teens (2024)

Screens are undeniably part of modern life in 2024.

And screen time is on the rise, especially among teenagers.

Below, we’ll dive into the numbers behind rising screen time, specifically looking at these areas:

Contents

• Top Teen Screen Time Statistics
• Average Screen Time for Teens in 2024
• Average Screen Time for Teens Over Time
• Teen Screen Time by Gender
• Teen Screen Time by Activity

Teen Screen Time Statistics (Top 5)

• The average teen spends 7 hours and 22 minutes looking at screens each day
• American teens’ screen time has increased by around 2 hours since 2015
• US teens spend almost 3 hours longer on screens than US tweens
• Teenage boys clock up nearly 1 hour more daily screen time than teenage girls
• Teenagers spend more than 3 hours per day watching TV/videos

Daily Average Screen Time for Teens in 2023

According to the latest available data, teenagers spend 7 hours and 22 minutes per day in front of screens. That equates to 43% of a teen’s waking hours.

By comparison, that’s 24 minutes more than the global average of 6 hours 58 minutes.

A recent survey reveals that 47% of parents allow their children to have 3+ hours of screen time per day. While 85% of parents permit at least an hour of screen time every day.

And those findings are corroborated by a French study, which shows that 43% of 7 to 19-year-olds clock up upwards of 3 hours of daily screen time. In total, 85% spend at least 1 hour looking at screens each day.

Sources: Gitnux, Nationwide Children’s, DataReportal, CivicScience, Ipsos

Average Screen Time for Teens Over Time

Entertainment screen time among US teens has increased significantly in recent years.

In 2015, American 13 to 18-year-olds averaged 6 hours 40 minutes of screen time each day.

That figure rose to 7 hours 22 minutes in 2019.

And sits at 8 hours 39 minutes as of 2021.

That means that since 2015, average screen time among teens has increased by 1 hour 59 minutes.

Here’s how those figures compare to American tweens (8 to 12-year-olds):

Data from the UK supports this idea of increasing dependence on screens among teenagers (and indeed all age groups).

The share of 16 to 24-year-old respondents who use smartphones grew from 86% in 2012 to 98% in 2021.

Sources: Common Sense Media, Ofcom

Teen Screen Time by Gender

On average, teenage boys spend longer looking at screens than teenage girls.

Teenage girls wrack up approximately 8 hours and 2 minutes of daily screen time.

Whereas teenage boys average 9 hours and 16 minutes of screen time per day.

Here’s how these figures compare to tweens:

Source: Common Sense Media

Teen Screen Time by Activity

Teenagers devote the largest proportion of their screen time to TV/videos - 3 hours 16 minutes. That’s almost 2x more than any other screen-based activity.

Gaming (1 hour 46 minutes) and social media (1 hour 27 minutes) make up the rest of the top three.

Here’s a full breakdown of screen time split by activity among US teenagers:

Looking specifically at social media, people under the age of 18 spend an average of 1 hour 47 minutes on TikTok every day.

Snapchat isn’t too far behind with an average of 1 hour 12 minutes.

Here’s the full list of daily social media use among children:

*Data unavailable.

Sources: Common Sense Media, Qustodio

Conclusion

Screen time continues to increase across the population, but it’s perhaps most alarming in teenagers.

At well over 7 hours, many teens are spending almost half of their waking hours looking at screens - a concerning statistic.

For more data on this topic, take a look at these posts: Startling Social Media Addiction Statistics and Worldwide Daily Social Media Usage.