Pew Pegs Parents’ Attitudes on Kids’ Use of Devices, Social Media Before, During Pandemic

Pew Research Center shared its insights on the attitudes of parents in the U.S. toward technology use by their children and how the pandemic impacted those attitudes. The think tank conducted a survey on the topic in March 2020, just prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, and it contacted many of the parents who participated for a second survey in April 2021 to see how their children were using social media during the pandemic and how their experience and attitudes had changed. More parents said their young children were using digital devices and social media, with 81% of respondents in April 2021 who had a child 11 or under saying the kid used or interacted with a tablet computer, up from 68% in the first survey. The trend was similar for smartphones, with 71% of respondents to the follow-up survey saying their child used one, up from 63%. TikTok was the most popular social platform among those covered by the survey, with 21% of parents saying their young child used it in April 2021, up from 13% in March 2020. Facebook and Instagram saw slight gains over the same timeframe, while Snapchat remained virtually flat. The number of parents who said their child used a social network other than those four climbed to 17% from 8%. Pew found that parents increasingly began to worry about the amount of time their kids were spending on devices, offering as examples: In the follow-up survey, 25% of parents said their kid spent too much time on a smartphone, while 23% said the same for videogames and 8% for time spent on social media sites.Parents whose children used gaming consoles or portable gaming devices in both 2020 and 2021 saw a dramatic gain in percentage who believed their kids were spending too much time playing videogames, to 51% from 31%.The pattern was similar for smartphones, with concerned parents increasing to 42% from 28% just before lockdown.46% of parents who said their kids’ time playing videogames was appropriate in 2020 said the same the following year, while one-third believed their children were now spending too much time. For smartphones, those figures were 55% and 26%, respectively. Pew research associate Colleen McClain wrote, “In both March 2020 and April 2021, majorities of parents whose child was five to 11 at the start of the pandemic said they ever checked the websites their child visits or the mobile applications they use; limited the times of day or length of time when this child can use screens; or took away the child’s smartphone or internet privileges as punishment. But the patterns of change over time also show some movement in parents’ approaches.” On that note: 16% of respondents with a child in that age group did not limit screen time for that child in 2021 after doing so in 2020, while 8% did limit screen time after not doing so the previous year.14% of respondents did not take away smartphone or internet privileges in 2021 after doing so in 2020, while the opposite was true for 6%.15% of parents with a child between five and 11 in 2020 checked that child’s website or app usage in 2021 after not doing so in 2020.As for letting their child use screens before bedtime, 48% of respondents with kids who were five to 11 in 2020 allowed them to so do, with 16% doing this in 2021 after not doing so in 2020, while 8% went the opposite route and tightened their restrictions.43% of parents were not OK with their kids using mobile devices before bed, while 32% were. McClain concluded, “The unique approach of this study—surveying parents about a specific child and looking at how individual parents’ responses changed over time—provides a window into children’s pandemic experiences with technology. Still, parents may not always know what devices their children use or exactly how much time they spend on them. And beyond these findings, it is important to note that screen time can take many forms and that there are healthy debates about whether and how screen time affects children.”