Online Habits

Gaming, Viewing, Sharing, Tweeting, Pranking, Hacking and more. What do kids get up to online?

The 2017 Children’s and Parent’s Media Use and Attitudes report by Ofcom shed some light on this. You can find the report here, but don’t worry, you won’t need it for this course.

The report found out that:

53% of 3-4 Year Old Children go online for nearly 8 hours a week.

79% of 5-7 Year Old Children go online for nearly 9 hours a week.

94% of 8-11 Year Old Children go online for nearly 13.5 hours a week.

99% of 12-15 Year Old Children go online for nearly 21 hours a week.

But what does ‘going online’ mean?

It could be watching a video, playing a game or using social media. It could be on a phone, tablet, computer, games console or TV. And while 8 hours might sound like a lot of online time for a 3 Year Old, it actually works out at just over an hour of screen time a day on Netflix or YouTube. Maybe try a day without screen time and see how it goes. And for the older kids, it’s best to remember that although phones and devices are playing a big part in their lives they are probably using them to stay in contact with their friends through social media or gaming.

If you really want to know what your kids are doing online the best way to find out is just to ask. Start doing this at a young age by asking them to tell you if they see or hear any content that they don’t like or that makes them feel funny. You’ll be surprised at their honesty!