Common Sense Media’s Brand New “Media Use” Report Reveals Kids Are Soaking in More Entertainment Media than Ever Before

You know the report, even if you don’t know… you know it. Because every time someone talks about the hours of screen time young people are soaking in today, they are referring to Common Sense Media’s “Media Use” report, which used to come out every four years, but just had a special 2-year release to track the screen time spike COVID caused. And this year, that increase is far greater than years prior… probably because what else were kids supposed to do during COVID!

One of the most fascinating facets of this report is the fact that Common Sense uniquely surveys both tweens (8-12-year-olds) and teens (13-18-year-olds), so every area of measure shows how much tweens and teens are each soaking in entertainment media. And soaking is a pretty good word, because young people—scratch that—human beings of all ages are truly are marinating in screen time.

Here is the link to the entire report, which is honestly a fascinating read for any parent, teacher or youth worker. But here are some of the highlights that leapt out at me as a social researcher and author who writes about this stuff regularly (and talks with teens about these realities in school assemblies, camps and churches each month).

I found it fascinating…

1.  Total entertainment screen time has gone up more in the last two years than the four years prior.

Screen time was already high. But tweens went from an average of 4 hours and 44 minutes daily in total screen time to 5 hours and 33 minutes. Teens jumped from an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes daily to 8 hours and 39 minutes (that’s a 1 hour and 17-minute daily increase). That’s a whole lot of YouTube and TikTok!

And yes, that’s a full-time job.

2. Watching online videos is the favorite media activity of 8-18-years old.

If you look specifically at teens, 77% of teens watch online videos every day, 62% are on social media every day, 49% watch TV every day.

What’s this mean?

Kids are soaking in way more YouTube and TikTok than Netflix. And most parents don’t have a good understanding what kind of content their kids are gleaning from these platforms for literally hours each day.

3. 88% of teenagers have their own smartphone, 57% of tweens do.

Interestingly enough, this is one area that hasn’t spiked. In fact, both age groups only spiked 4% and 5% respectively in the last two years, which is statistically not really even significant.

What is significant is when we look back to 2015 when 67% of teens had their own smartphone, or pre-2012, when less than half of teens did (something I’ve written about in detail, the importance of 2012, the year American teens crossed the 50% mark for smartphone ownership, the year Snapchat came out, and the year Instagram became “a thing.” In short, 2012 is when social media dropped into the majority of teens pockets.)

Now social media is in 9 out of 10 of their pockets.

My thoughts and concerns about the results of this study:

1. I wish the study was a little clearer with its definitions of “social media.”

For example, this report notes that teens average 1 hour and 27 minutes daily digesting social media (page 10). But then they show teens ALSO average another 1 hour and 22 minutes watching online videos (page 10).

Later in the report, Common Sense goes into great detail about young people’s favorite activity, watching online videos, their two favorite apps being YouTube and TikTok.

Read the above again:

• Teens spend 1 hour 27 minutes on social media.
• On top of that they spend another 1 hour and 22 minutes on YouTube and/or TikTok.

So Common Sense isn’t counting watching TikTok videos (liking, commenting, swiping) as social media, even though later in the report, page 31, they refer to YouTube and TikTok as the top two social media sites of choice. (And they actually speak to this categorization on page 33.) But bottom line… in their clocking of “average daily time spent on social media,” they aren’t including Tik Tok.

Really?

That’s like taking a survey about the average time people stare at their TV set each day, but not counting Netflix!

This also isn’t taking into consideration the average of 1 hour and 46 minutes each day that teens spend gaming. Do you have a teen or tween? Have you ever watched them game? How many of them game with the chat feature turned off?

This also doesn’t take into consideration the 20 minutes a day of video chatting.

My point is simple: there are a whole lot of platforms that offer chatting, liking, friending, commenting… the behaviors that create a pressurized environment for young people today on their screens.

Which leads to my next observation…and concern…

2. This entire report only devoted one sentence to concern about the possible negative effects of social media.

Some may argue that the purpose of this report is to simply report the data, but the report is full of observations and conclusions. I’ve read countless Common Sense Media reports and entertainment media reviews urging parents to wait til kids are older before giving them social media access, or to keep devices out of the bedroom. But this report missed a huge opportunity to share findings that an overwhelming majority of researchers agree on, especially about social media, specifically:

• That we are in a middle of mental health crisis in the English speaking world, especially our daughters
• That too much social media specifically is linked to mental health concerns, especially with our daughters

Those same researchers recommended that parents limit their kids to 1 hour (2 at the most) of social media per day on “platforms where people rate them and comment on their looks and their posts.”

Look at the numbers above (including TikTok) and tell me if you see a problem. (More on this study HERE.)

…and my final observation…

3. Although the report talked about teens who used devices for “content creation,” they limited their definition to “time spent writing or making art or music on digital devices.”

The thing that has me scratching my head about this is the fact that we now live in a world where 8 out of 10 young people want to be an “influencer” in some form. Any parent, teacher or youth worker can testify to this spike in kids wanting to be Instacelebs or Tik Tok stars. It’s huge.

Why is this significant?

Because when 8 out of 10 young people want to be influencers… that’s an overwhelming majority of young people who are extremely motivated to do anything to get more “likes” and “followers.” That fact alone is really impacting the safety and mental health of a generation…and I’m a little disappointed that Common Sense didn’t address this.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Common Sense’s research. This is so helpful, and I can’t even imagine this kind of undertaking. But as a social researcher I definitely found myself scratching my head a few times.

Let me leave you with a few questions to ponder:

1. If young people across America are spending this much screen time daily… what content are they soaking in? What opinions are they gleaning? Consider your own home: do you know what your tweens are soaking in for an average of 5 hours and 33 minutes daily, or your teens for an average of 8 hours and 39 minutes daily?
2. What are you modeling with your own screen time?
3. What are ways you can avoid overreaction when you read a report like this, and instead turn it into interaction with your kids about this important subject? (Have you ever read a book with your kids on this subject?)