Even before COVID-19, Young Australians were spending more time on the internet at home than watching TV or playing/talking to friends
New research from Roy Morgan reveals Young Australians aged 6-13 spend an average of 10 hours a week on the internet at home, up 0.3hrs from two years ago.
Kids are spending more time on the internet at home than watching TV (9.4 hours) or playing with/talking to friends (9.7 hours) – both of which have declined in popularity since 2017.
When the time Young Australians spend on the internet at school (3 hours) and elsewhere (1.2 hours) is taken into account they spend an average of 14.2 hours on the internet in total in an average week. That’s a non-lockdown average week.
Also notable is that kids are spending more time playing computer/electronic games, 5.1 hours (up 0.2hrs since 2017) than they spend playing sport, 4.5 hours (down 0.4hrs).
Other activities Australian kids spend time on during the week include an average of 2.7 hours of homework, 2 hours listening to the radio and 1.6 hours watching videos/DVDs.
Younger children favour TV, older ones the internet, but friends are important to both
Analysing activities by age groups shows watching TV is the top activity for 6-9 year olds ahead of playing with or talking to friends, using the internet at home, playing sport, and playing computer/electronic games.
For older kids, aged 10-13, using the internet at home is easily the number one activity, ahead of playing with/talking to friends, watching TV, playing computer/electronic games, and playing sport.
With detailed research into the lives of 2,500 young Australians each year, Roy Morgan’s Young Australian Survey has been measuring the changing activities, tastes and opinions of Aussie kids for many years, an invaluable resource for both retailers and parents keen to ensure they know what younger children and teens want.
Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan, says even before COVID-19 forced Australians to spend extra time indoors in mid-March, the way Aussie kids spent their time was changing rapidly:
Young Australians: Time Spent on Activities in hours
Source: Roy Morgan Young Australian Survey Jan–Dec 2017, n= 2,563, Jan–Dec 2019, n=2,230. Base: Young Australians aged 6-13 years old.
View the Understanding Young Australians Report.
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
