Screen Time Trends for Children in 2026: The Numbers and What They Mean

Ofcom's most recent research into how UK children spend time online, published in 2025, offers one of the clearest pictures available — based partly on passive measurement of children's actual device use rather than self-reported estimates. UK child internet users aged 8 to 14 spend an average of just under three hours a day (2 hours 59 minutes) online across smartphones, tablets and computers. Video dominates that time: YouTube reaches 96% of 8- to 14-year-olds in a typical month — more than any other service — and YouTube and Snapchat together account for over half (52%) of the average child's daily time online. Take-up of social platforms rises sharply between the ages of 10 and 12: 27% of 10-year-olds visit Snapchat in a month, climbing to 64% by age 12. Roblox is the most far-reaching games app, used by 61% of 8- to 14-year-olds. Spending money inside games and apps is now a mainstream part of children's online lives. 97% of 8- to 17-year-olds play online games, and just over half of those who game (53%) spend money within them. Across all children, 58% reported spending money online in the past month. A significant minority regret it: around a third (32%) regret an in-game purchase and 41% say they overspend, while many find it unclear what they are actually buying in a game. Encouragingly, 84% of parents have at least one control or way of monitoring their child's spending — but 15% report having none in place. What should parents take from this? The useful signal is less about a single 'safe' number of hours and more about composition and control: what screen time is displacing (sleep, activity, face-to-face time), how much of it is passive short-form video, and whether spending inside games is visible and capped. Talking openly about what your child watches and buys — and switching on the spending and time controls the platforms already provide — matters more than policing a fixed daily total.