Two-thirds of eight- to 10-year-olds spend up to four hours a day on social media

Born and raised with screens, digital activities occupy an important place in the daily lives of Generation Alpha children. So much so that 54% of parents say their Gen Alpha child spends up to four hours a day on social media, a level similar to Gen Z’s younger members, according to a Morning Consult survey.

According to the Morning Consult research, 65% of older Gen Alpha children, aged 8-10 years, spend up to four hours a day on social media, compared to 56% of young members of Gen Z, 13- to 17-year-olds. However, 41% of 13- to 17-year-olds spend more than four hours on social networks every day, while a third of eight- to 10-year-olds never use them.

Social media is an integral part of the lives of even the youngest North American children, with 24% of under-fours spending over an hour a day on social platforms and 22% going on such sites for less than an hour a day on social platforms, (compared to five- to seven-year-olds, 34% of whom spend an hour or more on these sites and 17% of whom spend less than an hour a day).

The study findings show that video streaming has become the norm for Alpha kids. Around half of parents of Gen Alpha children say their youngest child watches content on a video streaming platform at least once a day, compared to 40% for reading books and 37% for playing video games. The most popular video streaming platforms include YouTube, Disney+ and Netflix.

However, these digital activities represent only a minority of Gen Alpha children’s interests. Some 36% of parents say their Gen Alpha children want to spend time indoors having screen time, compared to 55% for outdoor activities. But this gap narrows as children get older, “with the biggest change happening when children age out of the 5-7 group and into the 8-10 one,” the research reports.

“Though social media doesn’t make the top three (activities) for the entire Gen Alpha group, it rises in importance for Alphas ages 8-10, right behind streaming video and playing video games,” says Morning Consult. – AFP Relaxnews

*Surveys conducted from October 16 to 29, 2023 among a representative sample of 1,002 members of Generation Z aged 13 to 26, and from January 3 to 18, 2024 among a representative sample of 2,007 parents of children under 11.