Four years ago, in an average week 10-13 year-olds spent almost 15.5 hours watching TV and 12 hours playing with or talking to friends, with the internet taking up 10.65 hours of their time.
But kids this age now spend 13.65 hour per week using the internet, whether at home, school or elsewhere — exactly three hours more than their peers did in 2010. And with only so many free hours in a week, they’ve had to prioritise: while these kids spend over three hours less in front of the box, they also spend an hour less socialising with friends, making the internet their number one pastime.
This news might not be good for our strong international showing in sport either in the next 7-20 years, because 10-13 year-olds also spend more time playing computer, electronic or console games (5.9 hours per week) than they do playing sport (5.3 hours per week), with the hours spent playing computer games going up and those playing sport going down.
But there’s always hope for some more Nobel Medals — they also spend more time doing homework (3.8 hours per week) than watching DVDs (3.5 hours per week).
Among even younger Australians aged 6 to 9, watching TV and playing with or talking to friends remain clearly the top two activities, although both have declined since 2010.
Four years ago, 6-9 year-olds spent about as much time during the week playing sport as using the internet; but today’s kids spend almost two hours more on the net than on the field.
“It is a milestone in our changing media landscape that the internet has overtaken television among 10-13 year-olds as the channel they spend more time using,” according to Tim Martin, General Manager of Media with Roy Morgan Research.
“Of course, not all kids are the same, and some spend much more time than others on every kind of medium. Some of this is understandable based on their parents’ values and behaviours, but a lot is dependent on the kids themselves – their interests, preferences and activities.”
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