A new report from Common Sense Media found that teenagers in the U.S. spend about eight hours and 15 minutes a day on screen media for entertainment, while children ages 9 to 12 spend about five hours. The report shows how smartphones, social media, short-form videos and A.I. tools are becoming part of children’s everyday lives.
The ‘2026 Common Sense Media Census: Tech and Media Use by Tweens and Teens’ surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,211 children ages 9 to 17 in the U.S. about their media use outside of school and homework, including television, online videos, gaming, social media and A.I. chatbots.
The report also found that screen use isn’t always fun and parents often ask how children spend time online and what they get out of it.
Children Are Using Smartphones, Social Media And A.I. At Younger Ages
Smartphone ownership increases dramatically during tween years, says the report. 24 percent of 9-year-olds have their own smartphone; that rises to 47 percent for 10-year-olds and 57 percent for 11-year-olds. By age 17, 94 percent of teens have their own smartphone.
Half of children aged 9 to 12 had used social media on the day surveyed (median one hour and 25 minutes spent on it).
A.I. use is also common among children younger than the minimum age many platforms set. Nearly half of tweens (49 percent) said they had used an A.I. chatbot or companion at some point; 18 percent reported using one on the day surveyed.
Across both age groups, 65 percent said they used A.I. tools in their free time, including 77 percent of teenagers and 49 percent of tweens. For those who used A.I. on the day surveyed, median time spent was one hour.
Short-Form Videos Take Up a Significant Part of Children’s Day
Short-form videos are now a major part of children’s entertainment habits. The report found that 82 percent of teenagers and 58 percent of tweens watched short videos online daily.
Teenagers who watched short-form videos spent a median of one hour and 55 minutes doing so; tweens who watched them spent one hour and 19 minutes.
The data also show recreational reading declines with age. On the day surveyed, 45 percent of tweens and only 23 percent of teenagers read for fun.
Gaming was another popular activity: 56 percent of tweens and teens played games on the day surveyed. Of those who did play, teenagers spent a median of about two hours gaming, while tweens spent about one hour and 49 minutes.
Heavy Screen Use Does Not Always Mean Children Enjoy It
One finding was that there was a gap between how much children used media and how much they enjoyed it.
Although 86 percent of teenagers said they used social media in their free time, only 47 percent said they enjoyed it a lot. Among tweens (ages 10-12), 40 percent used social media and 37 percent said they enjoyed it a lot.
The gap was even bigger for A.I. Only 11 percent of teen A.I. users and 15 percent of tween A.I. users said they enjoyed using the tools a lot.
Teenagers were also more likely to think they spent too much time on screens. Nearly half (48 percent) said their entertainment screen time was excessive compared with 63 percent of tweens who felt they spent about the right amount of time on screens.
What Parents Should Know About Children’s Screen Habits
The report says families may need to look beyond the number of hours children spend on devices and consider what else competes for their attention.
Heavy media use can crowd out sleep, reading, outdoor play and time with others, but the report also warned that screen time alone doesn’t determine whether an experience is good or bad; it depends on what children consume and how they engage with it.
The findings give parents a fuller picture of children’s digital lives, from early smartphone ownership to A.I. use. Knowing what activities children enjoy, how they use technology and whether it interferes with other parts of their day may help families make better decisions about screen habits.
