TikTok and YouTube own our kids' eyeballs
The upshot: a new study from tech company Qustodio shows that kids watch an average of 82 minutes of TikTok content per day, among other mind-blowing stats.
As today’s headline says: TikTok and YouTube own your kids’ eyeballs. According to the study, kids spend an average of 1 hour and 7 minutes on YouTube per day. In the spirit of complete honesty, this YouTube number checks out for our family — especially when we have looser rules for weekends. YouTube Kids has provided us with a compromise arrangement with our kids. They can watch unsupervised, but only the videos available on the official kid’s app, not “regular” YouTube.
Many folks have been worried about TikTok lately, and the average 1 hour and 47 mins kids spend on the app per day won’t do much to calm parents’ nerves. Much concern about TikTok stems from its robust algorithm that is devilishly good at keeping you hooked and engaged. Like most social media apps, TikTok has lots of mindless content but also some valuable corners. As such, making broad statements about whether the app is good or bad for your child or circumstance is challenging. I cannot stress enough how important it is to talk to your kids, not just about the app in general but the content they are consuming.
FWIW, TikTok is not something we consume in our house — adults or children — simply because we think it would be hard for any of us to regulate and a tempting time-waster. Instagram is enough for me…but I’m also a boring millennial.
Beyond social media
Believe it or not, TikTok and YouTube aren’t where your kids spend the most time. That would be Roblox — where kids spend an average of 3 hours daily.
Roblox hit a high of 59% popularity worldwide, rising to 62% of kids in the US, 63% in Australia, and our report’s record-breaking 67% of kids in the UK.
Games like Minecraft and Roblox are popular with kids because of their highly collaborative, world-building capabilities. Having observed both of my kids play these games, there is very little runway needed to learn how to play Roblox or Minecraft. Even young kids can quickly learn the basics and start building. In this way, it’s a gratifying gaming experience because they immediately see the “product” of their work.
These games are also immensely addicting. Whenever my daughter has lost her computer for some time, it’s been because she couldn’t tear herself away from one of these games. It results in a burnt-out brain that causes her to have trouble self-regulating. When she plays now, we put strict time limits (usually one hour) in effect.
File under: you are not alone
The study doesn’t just cover kids’ habits but also household and parent behaviors. It turns out most of us struggle with setting firm rules about time on devices.
I worry about what happens when conversations about technology are always punitive or rife with conflict. According to this chart, a whopping 69.4% of households face conflict related to screen time at least a few times a month. I take this as one more reason to talk about tech and screen time early with your kids — and I mean silly early, like while they are still drooling on indestructible tablets.
Lastly, it turns out parents aren’t the best role models when setting boundaries with screen time.
Almost half (48%) of parents with at least one child aged 5-15 revealed they face difficulties managing their own screen time, a figure which climbs steadily the younger the parent.
This underscores the need as parents, caretakers, and grown-up humans to self-reflect about our relationship with tech and how it impacts our children.
Know where your kids spend time.
Reading reports like this year after year is interesting — we see the ebb and flow of what’s considered cool for kids and get a head start on learning about new technology, apps, and games. It’s valuable to know where your kids spend time online and the apps to which they devote their waking hours. The complete study is worth reading if you have a free half hour.