Oct. 8 (UPI) — Parents are struggling to manage their children’s heavy use of screens, including television, computers, phones and gaming devices, according to a Pew Research survey.
When asked how they are managing the use of screen time, 42% say they could do a better job with 58% believing they are doing the best they can, according to the survey released Wednesday.
Thirty-nine percent said they believe they are stricter about their children’s screen time than other parents they know.
Parents have more priority over other daily routines. Pew found 42% make sure screen time is reasonable with 76% believing enough sleep is a priority, 77% good manners, 61% staying active and 54% reading.
The survey was conducted May 13-26 among 3,054 eligible parents sampled from the American Trends Panel, Pew Research Center’s nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults.
Separately, four online focus groups were also conducted from March 4 to 6 with a total of 20 U.S. parents or guardians of at least one child 1 to 12.
“I think eventually we will give it to them, but now … she’s not ready,” one parent said. “We spend too much time on phones. … How can we expect a 9-year-old to control and have a balance between their screen time?”
“I also have three other children in the house, and I work full time,” another parent said. “To just keep some of my sanity, the first thing I do is turn the TV on. … Being the wintertime, it’s hard for them to go outside. … I want to work on the screen time for the summertime.”
A vast majority of children 12 or younger have access to devices — 90% for TV, 68% for tablets, 61% for smartphones, 50% for gaming devices, 39% for desktops or laptops, 37% for voice-activated assistants, 11% for smartwatches and 8% for AI chatbots.
In the survey, 82% said they allow a child younger than 2 to watch TV.
Involving smartphones, 76% of parents say their 11- or 12-year-old uses one, 64% of those 8-10, 58% 5-7 and actually higher 59% ages 2 to 4. Thirty-eight percent of their child younger than 2 ever use or interact\ with one.
A total of 23% say their child has their own smartphone. Broken down, it’s 57% those 11-12, 29% for 8-10, 12% for 5-7 and 8% younger than 5.
Among specific content, 85% of parents said their child ever Watches YouTube, including 51% daily. In 2020, it was 80% for children 11 and younger.
And 15% said their children 12 and younger use TikTok, 8% Snapchat, 5% each Facebook and Instagram. They are using these platforms even though companies have put age restrictions in place.
Eighty percent say social media harms outweigh the benefits, though 46% say a smartphone is more harmful and 20% for tablets.
Parents surveyed explained why they let their children use cellphones: 92% to contact them, 85% for entertainment, 69% to help in learning, 43% to calm them down and 30% so they don’t feel left out.
Pew found there are only slight differences in views for Republican and Democratic parents.