Australian Bureau of Statistics 21/04/2023
Nine in ten children (90 per cent) spend at least one hour a week on screen-based activities, with a rise in children spending more than 20 hours a week, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
While the percentage of children aged 5-14 years using screens remained the same (90 per cent) compared with 2017-18, the amount of time has increased.
Michelle Ducat, ABS head of education statistics, said: “Of children doing screen-based activities, 40 per cent were spending 10-19 hours, but there has been an increase in the percentage of children using screens for more than 20 hours a week, from 16 per cent to 24 per cent.
“Reading for pleasure was considerably less popular than screen-based activities, with 72 per cent of children reading, down from 79 per cent in 2017-18. Around one third of these children read for two hours or less a week.”
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