Nine in ten children 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 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.
ABS head of education statistics Michelle Ducat said that 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,” she said.
Participation in screen-based activities remained constant across age groups, but reading for pleasure proved to be less popular among older age groups – 63 per cent of 12 to 14-year-olds read books compared with 76 per cent of 5 to 8-year-olds.
In 2021-22, children participating in a creative activity fell to 59 per cent from 63 per cent in 2017-18.
“Arts and crafts were the most popular creative activity among children, with 39 per cent of children participating at least once a week. This was followed by singing or playing musical instruments and creative writing, both with 19 per cent of children involved in these activities,” Ms Ducat said.
Creative activities were less popular for older children with 55 per cent of 12 to 14-year-olds participating in a creative activity compared with 60 per cent of 5 to 8-year-olds.
Creative activities were also more popular among girls (67 per cent) compared with boys (52 per cent).
