· By S. S. Coulter
Technology Addiction Statistics: A Wake-Up Call for Parents
When you hear that technology is having an ill effect on children, it’s not hyperbole. We all have eyes to see what’s happening with a huge population of our youth today because of the statistics you’ll see below – they have a hard time: interacting with people, looking others in the eye, holding conversations, dealing with confrontation, starting and keeping relationships, taking feedback…shall I go on?
Before I list the statistics of the technology usage that is leading to many of these troubling issues, I want to first recognize that technology is amazing and has so many wonderful benefits – without it, you wouldn’t be reading this post. That said, like pretty much everything else in life, you must strive to have a healthy relationship with it and teach your kids to do the same.
I've compiled some statistics I wanted to share so you can see for yourself that this is a true concern we need to tackle together. I’ve highlighted data below and then provided links to the source articles so you can get more details if you’d like:
- The typical internet user spends 43% of their waking life online.
- 1 in 5 young people wakes up at night to check their social media profiles.
- 85% of American adults can’t spend a day without going online.
- 32% of teenagers consider themselves addicted to their smartphones.
- Teens spend over seven hours a day in front of a screen.
Source: 16 Shocking Technology Addiction Statistics for 2024 by TechJury
- The age at which kids engage with media on a regular basis has fallen from four years in 1970 to four months in the present day.
- It has raised the likelihood that children will become obese, experience behavioral problems, sleep irregularities, poor academic performance, etc.
Source: June 2023 National Library of Medicine
- Almost half (49%) of 0 to 2-year-olds interact with smartphones.
- Gen Z averages around 9 hours of screen time per day.
- Globally, people average 6 hours and 40 minutes of screen time per day.
- Daily screen time has increased by over 30 minutes per day since 2013.
- The average American spends 7 hours and 3 minutes looking at a screen each day.
Source: Alarming Average Screen Time Statistics (2024) by Exploding Topics
- Children who reported more than two hours a day of screen time got lower scores on thinking and language tests.
- MRI brain scans showed that kids with a lot of screen time had a premature thinning of the cortex. This outermost layer of the brain processes different types of information from the senses (typically thought to be a maturational process).
Source: Dec 2018 Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study
These are crazy statistics, aren’t they? The impact this is having on children’s development is concerning, affecting their:
- Cognitive development
- Social-emotional development
- Physical health
Source: How does screen time affect your child’s development? by Wellness Hub
Why am I spelling this all out? Because it’s real, because it’s affecting our kids, and, most importantly, because we can do something about it. Just like we can stop our kids from eating dessert all day, we can stop them from being on screens all day.
Here are a few other posts I’ve written – with links to other resources – to help start the process of teaching our kids to have a healthy, balanced relationship with technology. Together, we can raise happy kids with healthy habits!
Balancing Screen Time for Kids: 3 Effective Strategies