Majority of children feel they spend too much time online

While boys continue to spend more time gaming than any other online activity across primary (56%) and secondary school (36%), the survey found that social media is the dominant online activity for secondary school-aged girls (55%).

More than two-thirds (67%) of secondary school-aged children and half (51%) of primary school-aged children feel that they spend too much time online, a new survey has found.

The survey carried out by online safety charity CyberSafeKids involved more than 5,000 primary and secondary school-aged children.

It found that almost a third of 12-16-year-olds (30%) and over a quarter of 8-12-year-olds (28%) find it hard to switch off from games and apps.

Participants also said that they “waste time online” which increased with age from 17% at the age of eight to 66% by the age of 16.

While boys continue to spend more time gaming than any other online activity across primary (56%) and secondary school (36%), the survey found that social media is the dominant online activity for secondary school-aged girls (55%).

These girls experience negative feelings more than boys when they spend time online.

Girls aged between 12 and 16 were more likely than boys to feel jealous of others (19% vs 4%), like they're missing out (18% vs 5%), anxious (14% vs 3%), inadequate (5% vs 1%) and afraid (4% vs 1%).

Girls have a more negative view of their online activity and were more likely than boys to say that they spend too much time online (70% vs 30%), and waste time online (48% vs 36%).

They also found it more difficult than boys to switch off from games/apps (34% vs 21%).

For girls aged between 12 and 16, social media use was followed by chatting with friends (23%), watching videos (10%) and gaming (6%). After gaming, boys the same age spent most of their time on social media (32%), watching videos (14%) and chatting with friends (13%).

Overall, just 43% of 8-12-year-olds said they had a mostly positive experience online compared to 55% of 12-16-year-olds.

The top four online activities for those aged 8-12 are gaming (36%), watching videos (26%), using social media (15%), and chatting to friends (13%) via WhatsApp or iMessage.

Some 4.3% of those use their time online to look up information for homework projects or research while 3.8% spend time creating things using drawing apps, iMovie, or Photoshop.

Offline activities

CyberSafeKids is encouraging families to take a 24-hour break from the non-essential use of all smart devices including phones, tablets, laptops, computers and gaming consoles from 5pm today until 5pm on Saturday.

The charity is encouraging families to use Saturday to enjoy simple offline activities like going for a walk, baking, playing board games, and visiting friends.

CyberSafeKids CEO Alex Cooney said children of all ages need help in managing their digital health and well-being.

“Adults find it just as hard to switch off from the online world as children do but we need to teach children from an early age how important it is to find a healthy balance between their online and offline lives and to help them understand how addictive some of the apps and games they’re using really are,” she said.

Author and Family Psychotherapist Richard Hogan said it is more important than ever that our children have moments away from technology during the day.

“In the age of ubiquitous internet and smartphones, children need time to be children and connect with their friends in real life. So we have to help them to switch off, plug out, and tune into life,” he said.