The screen time of young children up to the age of six has increased by seven minutes compared to 2022. They now spend an average of one hundred minutes a day on digital media, especially on a tablet, telephone or television screen. A quarter of the parents of 0 and 1 year olds indicate that their child spends at least two hours a day on screens. This was reported by Netwerk Mediawijsheid on Friday after an investigation.
According to the study, one in five toddlers even uses digital media for more than three hours a day. According to the official guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), children up to the age of 2 should not have screen time, and children up to the age of 5 should have no more than one hour a day. Current media use among young children is therefore considerably higher, the Network indicates.
The research also shows that digital media use often goes hand in hand with sitting still, and that sitting still increases as children get older. On the other hand, a quarter of children between the ages of 0 and 6 are active while watching television and half of young children are active while listening to music or podcasts.
Adverse effects
“In previous years, we have often seen an increase in daily screen time among young children and that now seems to be continuing,” says Professor of Youth & Media Peter Nikken of Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, who finds this worrying. “Excessive use of digital media and too little exercise at a young age can negatively affect sleep and language development and promote obesity and myopia,” he says.
Incidentally, almost 80 percent of parents indicate that they are satisfied with their child’s balance between sleeping, moving and sitting. Parents have an important role to play in this, says the Media Literacy Network, both in the field of exercise and the use of digital media. More than half of the parents in this study say they are aware of this role.
At the same time, almost half of the parents find it difficult to set a good example, for example by not spending too much time on their phone. “We can no longer ignore the fact that digital media are part of everyday life, but we can look at how, when and for how long young children use them,” says researcher Anouk Tuijnman of the Trimbos Institute.
Research design
The Iene Miene Media study into media use in families with young children takes place annually. This year there was also an in-depth investigation. The survey, carried out by research agency No Ties on behalf of the Network in collaboration with Nikken and Tuijnman, was conducted among 1076 parents of children aged nine months to six years.