The COVID effect: Is 'leisure screen time' the new normal for children?

Recent research focusing on children and screen time finds an overall increase, but less time spent doing one particular activity. What's behind the distraction

You're reading this on a screen, so the irony of what I'm about to write isn't lost on me: We spend too much time distracted by screens.

I'm a huge culprit. My kids often call me out for "twiddling" on my phone in scenarios where we're supposed to be spending family time together.

See this in your home?

I grew up with screens, but the landscape was different. My parents put on the television every night; I played those handheld Tiger games; birthday parties revolved around playing "Street Fighter" on SNES. I even ran a Tecmo Super Bowl league in college (yes, I realize the oddity of the NES following the SNES in that lineage).

Was I programmed to rely on the screen to occupy leisure time? Perhaps. But I also rode my bike almost every day, played baseball with friends for hours on end, and attended Boy Scout meetings in screen-free environments.

Today, screens are everywhere. The GameChanger app records my child's youth baseball games to be tracked in real-time; a screen on your bike handlebars tracks your speed and calories; the Boy Scouts now offer at least five merit badges related to screens (though "wasting time on an app" isn't one of them). Our world is significantly more screen-heavy than the one I knew in the 1980s and 90s. 

The pandemic screen shift

A recent study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic—which forced all of us into virtual environments—permanently altered screen habits among children. Earlier this month, U.S. News & World Report shared a headline that confirmed what many parents already suspected: Pandemic Spurred Increase In Screen Time Among Children, Teens.

"Kids spent more time with screens after the pandemic, using computers, video games, smartphones and tablets at rates higher than before COVID struck," researchers recently reported in the journal Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Interestingly, the top screen of my youth is no longer the preferred distraction.

"Even during the pandemic, television viewing continued to decline," said co-lead investigator Yuko Mori, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turku Research Center for Child Psychiatry in Finland.

No surprise, but the top screen these days: smartphones.

The data on distraction

The researchers analyzed 60 studies conducted between 1991 and 2022. They found that while kids have focused on various changing screens over the decades, the pandemic stopped everything in its tracks in 2020. Online learning and seemingly endless leisure time led to a dramatic, lasting increase in total screen usage.

"After the pandemic, there was a dramatic increase in both total and leisure screen time among children and teens. This likely reflects developmental factors," said co-lead author Sanju Silwal. "Adolescence is a life stage where peer relationships, online social interaction and romantic relationships become increasingly central."

The trends are clear: computer usage, video gaming and smartphone usage are up. TV watching is down.

Why does it matter?

Any parent of young children today likely knows why this shift is concerning. Researchers noted specific concerns that come when focus is shifted entirely to the digital world: including cyberbullying, inappropriate content, unrealistic body image and sleep problems.

"Technology offers tremendous opportunities, but it also presents risks," Siwal said. "To ensure that children benefit from digital environments, we need continuous research, evidence-based policies and coordinated efforts from families, schools, communities and governments."

It looks like we have a new focus for our own screen time: finding ways to help our kids look at them less.