Screens
How much screen time is too much?
There is no agreed number of hours of screen time that is too much for an adult. Most of the limits that health bodies publish are for children. Canada’s national guidelines also give adults a number: no more than three hours a day of screen time in your free time.
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Reviewed by Mohammed Raqeeb
The answer
How much screen time is too much for adults?
Screen time has no agreed limit for adults. An adult has two things to go by: one country’s number, and one question.
The number. Canada’s national guidelines say adults should keep screen time in their free time to no more than 3 hours a day, and all sitting to no more than 8 hours (Canada’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines).
The question. Is your screen time pushing out sleep or exercise? The American Academy of Pediatrics, a US group of children’s doctors, asks this about children and teens in place of a number. It says there is not enough evidence for a set number of hours. The same question works for an adult.
The World Health Organization gives a number only for children under 5. The table below has each guideline by age.
By age
Screen time guidelines by age
Screen time guidelines are clearest for young children. Each line below comes from the body named under it. The limits from age five up are for free time, not for school or work.
| Age | What the guideline says |
|---|---|
| Under 2 | Screen time is not recommended.World Health Organization |
| 2 to 4 | No more than 1 hour a day. Less is better.World Health Organization |
| 2 to 5 | About 1 hour on a weekday and 3 hours on a weekend day, not counting programs that teach.American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry |
| 5 to 17 | No more than 2 hours a day in free time.Canada’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines |
| Children and teens | No set number of hours. Look at what the screens push out, such as sleep and exercise.American Academy of Pediatrics |
| 18 and over | No more than 3 hours a day in free time.Canada’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, for adults and for people aged 65 and over |
The average
What is the average screen time?
The average screen time is about four and a half hours a day for UK adults, and four hours or more for half of US teenagers. Each figure depends on which screens were counted.
In the UK, adults spent 4h 30m a day online in . Adults aged 18 to 24 spent 6h 20m, and people aged 65 and over spent 3h 20m. Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator, measured this on people’s own phones, tablets and computers. TV and work computers are not in it.
In the US, a government health survey asked teenagers aged 12 to 17 about a normal weekday, not counting schoolwork. About half, 50.4%, said four hours or more (the National Center for Health Statistics, 2024). The survey ran from to .
Try it
What does your screen time add up to in a year?
The counter below turns hours a day into days a year. It starts with the UK average: 4h 30m a day is about 68 full days a year. Put in your own hours.
From four to ten hours.
In a year, about
68 days
4h 30m a day comes to about 1,643 hours a year. A day here is a full 24 hours, nights included.
One day of 24 hours
- Sleep8h
- Screens4h 30m
- Everything else11h 30m
Work, travel, meals, people and exercise share the last line, unless a screen is on during them.
One hour less a day would give you back about 15 days a year.
4h 30m of screen time a day is about 68 days a year.
These are your guesses. Your real hours come from your day. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
Your own answer
How to tell if your screen time is too much
Screen time is too much for you when it takes hours you wanted for something else. The way to find out is to count those hours. Check three things.
Your sleep.
The NHLBI, a US health agency, says experts recommend 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night for adults. If you sleep less on the nights you stay on a screen, sleep is what the screen is pushing out.
Your exercise.
Canada’s guidelines ask adults for at least 150 minutes a week of exercise that is moderate or harder. Count your minutes for one week.
The things you meant to do.
Write down three things you wanted time for this week, like a friend, a book or a skill. At the end of the week, count the hours each one got. Then put them next to your screen hours.
How to do it
How to reduce screen time
You reduce screen time one hour at a time, and you decide first what goes in its place.
- Count one week. Your phone keeps a screen time report. Add the TV and the laptop yourself.
- Take screens out of one hour. Start with the last hour before bed. The NHLBI says to keep that hour quiet, away from the bright light of a TV or computer.
- Put something in that hour. Pick one of your three things.
For a week-by-week plan, read how to break phone addiction. For late-night news, read how to stop doomscrolling. The pages on brain rot and popcorn brain explain what those two words mean.
The test
How do you know your screen time is not too much?
The test
Your three things got the hours you wanted, and you slept seven hours or more a night
for 4 weeks in a row.
It is easy to know your screen hours and still miss what they pushed out. A phone’s report shows the time on the phone. It does not show the walk or the book that did not happen.
A good way to check is to count your whole day from what you write or say about it: the sleep, the work, the reading, and the screen hours you write down. Most journaling apps only ask how your day felt. They do not show how many hours went to each thing.
One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in.
You write or say your day in your own words, as it happens or all at once. The app reads what you wrote and counts the hours that went to each part of it: your sleep, work, reading, your phone, and the time you never mentioned (shown as unaccounted). Then it shows those hours over days and weeks. So you can see, week by week, how many hours went to sleep, to work, and to the things you care about. Add your three things as habits, each with how often you want it. When what you write about your day shows one, the app ticks it off.
1. You write your day
2. It counts the hours
- Reading0m
- Work0m
- Sleep0m
- Unaccounted24h
3. It shows your week
Reading this week: 0m
On 6 of 7 days. The gap is the day without it.
An example day and week.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.
Sources
Where the numbers come from.
Every guideline and figure on this page links to one of the sources below. We opened and read each one for this page. This page is not medical advice.
- World Health Organization (read ). To grow up healthy, children need to sit less and play more.
- Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (read ). Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults aged 18-64 years: An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep.
- Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (read ). Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults aged 65 years or older.
- Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (read ). Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth (5-17 years).
- American Academy of Pediatrics (read ). Screen Time Guidelines (a question answered by the Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health).
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (read ). Screen Time and Children (Facts for Families, No. 54).
- Ofcom (2025). Online Nation: 2025 report. Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator.
- Zablotsky, B., Arockiaraj, B., Haile, G. and Ng, A. E. (2024). Daily screen time among teenagers: United States, July 2021 to December 2023. NCHS Data Brief, no. 513. National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (read ). How Much Sleep Is Enough?
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (read ). Healthy Sleep Habits.
Keep reading.
- LearnAnswers about sleep, habits, study, people and work, in hours.
- How to break phone addictionFind your real daily hours, cut a little each week, and keep the phone out of one room.
- How to stop doomscrollingSet a stop time before the evening starts, put the phone on a charger in another room, and decide what you will do next.
- Brain rotWhat the word means, where it comes from, whether it is real, and how to count your own feed hours.
- Where did my week go? calculatorEnter a typical day and see your week accounted and unaccounted.
- Time journalingThe method: write or say your day in your own words, then see it as hours.
Questions
Questions people ask.
How much screen time is too much for adults?
There is no agreed number. The World Health Organization sets a limit only for young children. Canada’s national guidelines give adults one: no more than 3 hours a day of screen time in free time.
What is the average screen time?
UK adults spent 4h 30m a day online on their own phones, tablets and computers in May 2025, measured by Ofcom. In a US government survey, 50.4% of teenagers said they spend four hours or more on screens on a weekday, not counting schoolwork.
How much screen time should a child have?
The World Health Organization says screen time is not recommended before age 2, and no more than 1 hour a day from 2 to 4. Canada’s guidelines say no more than 2 hours a day in free time from 5 to 17. If you are worried about your child’s screen time, ask your child’s doctor.
How do I reduce my screen time?
Count one week first. Then take screens out of one hour of the day, starting with the last hour before bed, and decide what you will do in that hour instead.
How can I see what my screen time takes time away from?
Your phone already keeps a report of its own screen time. For the rest of the day, write down what you did for a week, on paper or in a notes app, and add up the hours for sleep, work and the things you care about. If you want an app, look for one that adds up those hours for you. One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in. Think in Numbers reads what you write or say about your day and counts the hours that went to each thing you did, such as sleep, work and reading.
Try it on my day.
Write today down in your own words, and see where the hours went.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.