How Much Time Do Children Spend on TikTok? New Report Reveals Staggering Stats
By Movieguide® Contributor
The CDC reports that children and teens spend anywhere from six to nine hours on screens each day, and new data reveals what apps children scroll through the most.
Cribbage Challenge found that kids spend 113 minutes on TikTok, followed by 90 minutes on Snapchat, 20 minutes on Pinterest and 18 minutes on Reddit each day.
On streaming services, children and teens spend 77 minutes on YouTube, 52 minutes on Netflix, 42 minutes on Disney+ and 35 minutes on Amazon Prime every day.
“Children today are spending more time online than ever before due to technology advances and accessibility,” a spokesperson for Cribbage Challenge said. “TikTok and YouTube are by far the most commonly used apps for children in the U.S., followed by Snapchat and Netflix.”
Movieguide® previously reported on the amount of time children spend on screens.
“Today, 97% of teenagers are online at some point every day and almost 46% are online for a majority of the day.”
However, this time on screens detrimentally affects children’s and teens’ mental health.
“Teens told us that they don’t like the amount of time they spend on the app, but feel like they have to be present,” explained an Instagram research manager. “They often feel ‘addicted’ and know that what they’re seeing is bad for their mental health but feel unable to stop themselves.”
“There is a substantial link to depression, and that link tends to be stronger among girls… The more time the teen, particularly a teen girl, spends using social media, the more likely it is that she will be depressed,” Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, said.
Because of these effects, Sen. Josh Hawley has introduced the “Making Age-Verification Technology Uniform, Robust, and Effective Act”—legislation that would ban social media users younger than 16 from having accounts.
“Children suffer every day from the effects of social media,” Hawley explained. “At best, Big Tech companies are neglecting our children’s health and monetizing their personal information. At worst, they are complicit in their exploitation and manipulation. It’s time to give parents the weapons they need to strike back.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Hawley’s work to ban TikTok in the United States due to the mental health effects and national security concerns it raises:
Senator Josh Hawley announced that he will introduce legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States due to the national security and mental health threats it poses to American citizens.
“TikTok is China’s backdoor into Americans’ lives. It threatens our children’s privacy as well as their mental health. Now I will introduce legislation to ban it nationwide,” the Missouri senator wrote in a January 24 tweet.
Movieguide® has previously reported on the devastating impact TikTok has had on children. Minors are frequently exposed to explicit content, drug usage and trends such as the deadly “blackout challenge” while using the app.
Hawley explained how his bill would prevent more children from being damaged by the content they see on TikTok.
“What my bill does is it specifically goes after TikTok—it bans it,” Hawley told Capitol Hill reporters.
“It doesn’t ban any other app, but it also requires a comprehensive report to Congress on the national security threat” the app poses and its relationship to the Chinese Communist Party, he added.
TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has come under Hawley’s scrutiny in the past as he believes it poses a “major security risk” to the United States.
Fox Business reports that the senator “was the chief author of the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, which was enacted last year and prohibits the use of TikTok on government-issued devices.”
“TikTok is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a major security risk to the United States, and until it is forced to sever ties with China completely, it has no place on government devices,” Hawley said in a statement at the time.
- Content: +4Share:
- Content: +4