Average Screen Time by Age Statistics 2026: Latest Insights

The global average daily screen time for adults is 6 hours and 51 minutes, according to DataReportal. Separately, 50.4% of teenagers ages 12-17 had 4 hours or more of daily screen time, per the CDC. The gap between life stages is wider than any single headline suggests; infants average roughly an hour, tweens push past five and a half, and people over 65 in the United Kingdom log just 3h 20m online each day.

The data below covers screen exposure across every age bracket from under-two infants through adults over 65, blending CDC, Ofcom, Common Sense Media, Pew Research, and AAP guidance into a full-life-course snapshot.

Key Takeaways

• US teenagers aged 12-17 logged 4 or more hours of daily device exposure at a rate of 50.4% between July 2021 and December 2023, the federal NHIS-Teen survey reported.
• Tweens aged 8-12 spent an average of 5h 33m per day on screen-based entertainment, up from 4h 44m in 2019, according to the publisher.
• Children aged 0-8 averaged about 2.5 hours on devices in 2025, holding steady since 2020 even as gaming jumped 65%, researchers reported.
• UK users 18-24 spent 6h 20m online daily, while adults 65 and older spent 3h 20m, Ofcom’s 2025 Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report found.
• Roughly 27.1% of teens logging 4-plus device hours each day reported anxiety symptoms in the prior fortnight, while 25.9% reported depression symptoms, per CDC NCHS Data Brief 513.
• 40% of children have a tablet by age 2, 58% by age 4, and nearly 1 in 4 own a personal cellphone by age 8, the 2025 researchers’ census observed.
• 21% of UK users 65 and older have no internet access at home, the widest digital-access gap Ofcom tracks across age brackets.

Editor’s Choice

• Global adults averaged 6h 51m on devices daily in early 2026, according to DataReportal’s Digital 2026 Mid-Year Update.
• US teenagers averaged 8h 39m of total daily device exposure in the most recent census wave, excluding school-related screens.
• 96% of US teens aged 13-17 use the internet daily, and 95% report having access to a smartphone, Pew found.
• US users aged 18-24 averaged 8.1 hours across all devices daily, topping every cohort DataReportal tracks.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends zero device time among children under 18 months, with the only exception being live video chat with family.
• 38% of US teens say they spend too much time on their smartphones, according to a 2024 Pew survey.
• The 25-34 cohort logged 7.6 hours while 35-44 users recorded 7.1 hours in front of screens, according to DataReportal.

Recent Developments

• April 2026 saw DataReportal publish the Digital 2026 Mid-Year Update, reporting that adults globally averaged 6h 51m of device time daily across all devices.
• May 2025 brought Ofcom’s Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report 2025, documenting UK adults’ average online time at over 4h 30m daily, with 18-24s leading at 6h 20m.
• February 2025 marked the publisher’s release of the 2025 Census on Media Use by Kids Zero to Eight, the first comprehensive post-pandemic look at young children’s screen use, finding gaming time up 65% since 2020.
• December 2024 brought the Pew Research Center’s “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024,” finding that 96% of US teens use the internet daily and nearly half are online “almost constantly.”
• October 2024 saw the federal National Center for Health Statistics publish Data Brief 513, reporting that 50.4% of US teens 12-17 had 4 or more hours of device time daily and documenting links to anxiety and depression symptoms.
• March 2024 brought a parallel Pew study on parents’ approaches to teen device time, finding that 38% of teens themselves say they spend too much time on smartphones.

Average Screen Time by Age Group: A Full-Life-Course Snapshot

• Children under 2 averaged about 1 hour of daily device exposure, well above the AAP’s recommendation of zero before 18 months.
• Children aged 2-4 logged 2h 8m in their daily routine, according to the 2025 researchers’ census.
• Children aged 5-8 logged 3h 28m per day on screens, the same Common Sense report observed.
• Tweens aged 8-12 clocked 5h 33m of media entertainment in their daily routine, according to the publisher.
• Teenagers aged 13-18 logged 8h 39m of total device exposure per day, excluding school screens.
• For users 18-24, the global daily average reached 8.1 hours on devices, the highest figure DataReportal records.
• Users in the 25-34 segment averaged 7.6 hours, while the 35-44 set recorded 7.1 hours in front of screens daily, according to DataReportal.
• Users aged 55-64 logged 5h 17m (women) and 5h 14m (men), according to DataReportal.
• UK seniors 65 and older posted 3h 20m online daily, per Ofcom 2025, the lowest of any tracked bracket.

Source: CDC NCHS, Common Sense Media, DataReportal, Ofcom, AAP

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Children Under 2: Screen Time Patterns

• The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends zero screen media for children under 18 months, with live video chat as the only exception.
• The AAP advises that 18-24-month-olds only watch educational programming with a caregiver present.
• Children younger than 2 averaged about 1 hour and 3 minutes on devices in compiled data referenced by AAP and the research team tracking.
• 40% of children have their own tablet by age 2, the 2025 researchers census observed, marking the earliest entry point of personal device ownership.
• The AAP cautions that under-2s “have a hard time understanding what they’re viewing on screens unless it’s explained by an adult,” reinforcing the co-viewing recommendation.

Source: AAP, Common Sense Media

Survey finding: the 2025 census observed that 40% of children own a tablet by age 2 and 58% own one by age 4, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends zero device usage before 18 months. The gap between guidance and reality begins almost at birth and widens through preschool.

Toddlers and Preschoolers (Ages 2-5): What the Data Shows

• Among 2- to 4-year-olds, the daily average reached 2h 8m on devices, as the 2025 researchers’ wave observed.
• The 5-to-8 age band averaged 3h 28m per day, that same census noted.
• Total screen use among kids aged 0-8 has held steady at about 2.5 hours per day since the 2020 census.
• Gaming time among under-9s grew 65% between 2020 and 2025, researchers reported.
• 62% of parents say they watch YouTube alongside their young children, but only 17% co-view TikTok content.
• 1 in 5 families now uses a mobile device to manage their child’s bedtime routine, mealtime, or emotional regulation.

Tweens (Ages 8-12): What the Numbers Reveal

• The 8-12 tween segment recorded 5h 33m on entertainment media daily, up from 4h 44m in 2019, the research found.
• The 2019-to-2021 rise represented a 17% jump in tween media exposure during the pandemic period.
• Nearly 1 in 4 children own a personal cellphone by age 8, the research team’s 2025 census noted.
• Tween screen entertainment excludes school-related screen use, meaning total exposure is materially higher.
• The research team documents YouTube as the most-used platform among tweens, ahead of traditional television and streaming services.

Source: Common Sense Media

What’s changed: Tween screen entertainment grew from 4h 44m in 2019 to 5h 33m by 2021, a 17% increase that the research team attributed to pandemic-era schooling and social shifts, with the level holding steady through the 2025 census wave and indicating the rise was structural rather than temporary.

Teenagers (Ages 13-17): The High-Use Years

• About 50.4% of US teenagers aged 12-17 had 4 or more hours on screens, the federal NHIS-Teen survey covering July 2021 through December 2023 reported.
• 22.8% of teens reported 3 hours of screen time, 17.8% reported 2 hours, 6.1% reported 1 hour, and 3.0% reported less than 1 hour.
• Teens in the 13-18 group logged 8h 39m of total media exposure in a 24-hour window, according to the research team’s most recent census.
• 96% of teens aged 13-17 use the internet daily, and 95% have access to a smartphone, Pew found in its 2024 study.
• 73% of teens visit YouTube every day, and roughly 60% visit TikTok every day, the same Pew survey reported.
• Nearly half of US teens describe themselves as online “almost constantly,” with 58% of Hispanic teens and 53% of Black teens reporting near-constant internet use.
• 38% of teens say they spend too much time on their smartphones, a 2024 Pew survey found.

For platform-specific patterns within teen screen time, see social media screen time data.

Young Adults (Ages 18-24): The Peak Cohort

• The global 18-24 cohort posted 8.1 hours across all devices in a 24-hour window, marking the peak figure DataReportal observes.
• UK users 18-24 spent 6h 20m online in a 24-hour window, the most of any UK cohort, per Ofcom’s 2025 Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report.
• Most online time among 18-24s is spent on smartphones, where adults use an average of 41 apps per month, Ofcom found.
• The 18-24 bracket overlaps with Generation Z, which DataReportal estimates spends over 9 hours daily on screens at the high end of usage.
• Female internet users aged 16-24 register among the highest device hours seen in cross-national surveys.

For comparison with platform-specific time, see our smartphone usage data.

Working-Age 25-44 Bracket: What the Data Shows

• For the 25-34 cohort, the global daily average reached 7.6 hours in front of screens, according to DataReportal’s Digital 2026 Mid-Year Update.
• The 35-44 cohort averaged 7.1 hours in front of screens within a 24-hour window, according to the same report.
• The 25-34 cohort records the highest smartphone usage of any tracked group, with male users in that range spending the most time of any gender-age combination measured.
• This age range maps closely to younger Millennials and the trailing edge of Gen Z, both heavy users of TikTok and Instagram for both work and leisure.
• Roughly half of all time online for this group is spent on a smartphone, with the rest split across laptops, tablets, and connected TVs.

Research finding: DataReportal’s Digital 2026 Mid-Year Update reported that those aged 25-34 averaged 7.6 hours and respondents 35-44 averaged 7.1 hours on devices, with the 25-34 group also recording the highest smartphone usage seen across tracked brackets, indicating that screens have become inseparable from professional life for this generation.

The 45-64 Bracket: Mid-Life Plateau

• UK people aged 55-64 averaged about 5h 14-17m daily on screens, depending on gender, per DataReportal cross-national data.
• The 45-54 bracket sits between 25-44 highs and 55+ declines, with most surveys placing the figure around 6 hours.
• Nielsen historical data found that US people aged 50-64 spend the most total time across media platforms of any tracked cohort, with 51% of that time on television and TV-connected devices.
• The shift from smartphone-dominated screens to TV-dominated screens begins between the ages of 45 and 55 in most cross-national tracking.
• Older Millennials and Gen X make up most of this bracket, a generation that adopted smartphones in adulthood and balances them with longer-form video viewing on platforms tracked in our Netflix viewer data.

Seniors (Ages 65+): The Lowest-Use Bracket

• UK seniors 65-plus averaged 3h 20m online within a 24-hour window, the lowest UK figure tracked, per Ofcom 2025.
• 21% of those 65-plus have no internet access at home, Ofcom found, marking the widest digital-access gap among all measured brackets.
• Globally, seniors aged 65+ averaged roughly 5.2 hours across devices once television is added, per DataReportal aggregates.
• Television remains the dominant medium for this cohort, accounting for the majority of daily on-screen exposure.
• Senior screen-time growth has been the slowest across tracked brackets, with rises driven primarily by smart-TV adoption rather than smartphone or tablet uptake.

Source: Ofcom 2025 Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes; DataReportal

Mental Health Correlations Across Age Brackets

• About 27.1% of teenagers aged 12-17 with 4 or more hours of daily screen time reported anxiety symptoms in the past two weeks, per CDC NCHS Data Brief 513.
• 25.9% of teens in that same high-screen group reported depression symptoms in the prior fortnight, NCHS found.
• NCHS documented higher screen-time prevalence among teenagers in metropolitan areas than in nonmetropolitan areas.
• Across our coverage of attention span statistics, average engagement windows have contracted from 12 seconds to under 5 in a decade, a trajectory that reshapes every content strategy.
• The federal NCHS findings track teens specifically; comparable US mental-health data layered on adult cohorts is more limited, though the Pew finding that 38% of teens self-identify smartphone overuse aligns with the screen-anxiety correlation.

Source: CDC NCHS Data Brief 513; Pew Research Center

By the numbers: The agency’s October 2024 Data Brief 513 found that 27.1% of teens with 4 or more hours of daily on screens time reported anxiety symptoms in the past two weeks, and 25.9% reported depression symptoms. The pattern held across demographic subgroups, suggesting device usage correlates with adolescent mood outcomes regardless of race, region, or income.

Device Ownership by Age Group

• 40% of children own a tablet by age 2 and 58% by age 4, the 2025 researchers census observed.
• Nearly 1 in 4 children own a personal cellphone by age 8, that same census noted.
• 95% of US teens aged 13-17 have access to a smartphone, and 88% have a desktop or laptop computer, Pew Research’s 2024 study reported.
• 83% of teens have a gaming console at home and 70% have a tablet, Pew found.
• UK people aged 65+ have the lowest household internet penetration of any tracked cohort, with 21% lacking home internet, per Ofcom.

Source: Common Sense Media; Pew Research Center; Ofcom

For more on the device side specifically, see our iPhone statistics.

How US and UK Screen Time Compare by Age

• UK adults averaged about 4h 30m online daily in 2025, while US adults averaged closer to 7 hours of total daily screen time across all devices, per Ofcom and DataReportal, respectively.
• The 18-24 gap is narrower: UK 6h 20m online vs. US 8.1 hours across all devices.
• The 65+ gap is wider in absolute terms: UK 3h 20m online vs. global ~5.2 hours including television.
• Definitions differ across surveys. Ofcom measures “online time,” DataReportal measures “all-device screen time,” and CDC measures “screen time” via parent and teen self-report; so direct comparison requires noting the methodology.
• Despite measurement differences, the US consistently records higher per-capita screen time than the UK across every cohort, a pattern that has held since smartphone-era surveys began.

Source: Ofcom 2025 Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes; DataReportal Digital 2026 Mid-Year Update

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Conclusion

Average screen time varies more by age than by any other demographic factor. The global average daily screen time for adults is 6 hours and 51 minutes, according to DataReportal. Individual age brackets range from roughly 1 hour for children under 2 to 8.1 hours among adults aged 18-24 and back down to 3h 20m online for UK adults aged 65 and older. Teenagers with 4 hours or more of daily screen time experienced anxiety (27.1%) or depression symptoms (25.9%) in the past 2 weeks, the CDC reported, alongside the 50.4% of teenagers ages 12-17 already at 4 hours or more.

Parents, clinicians, advertisers, and policy researchers all benefit from a clearer view of how screen exposure scales by age. Pediatric guidance can target the toddler-to-tween transition, where the gap between AAP recommendations and observed behavior widens fastest. School and public-health programs can prioritize the teen bracket, where high screen exposure intersects with measurable anxiety and depression rates. Marketers and platform designers can map their attention demand onto a clearer age curve. The figures will keep moving as new census waves arrive, but the shape of the by-age distribution, low at the extremes, peaking in young adulthood, has held across every recent dataset.