Qustodio launches 2020 report on children’s digital habits: Connected More than Ever

Qustodio team

Qustodio team

Experts in digital safety

New annual report looks online video, social media, video games and education apps and in the hands of today’s digital natives across the U.S., the U.K. and Spain, and provides insights and advice on the new normal 

  • Today, on average a child in the U.S. watches nearly 100 minutes of YouTube per day, 
  • A child in the U.K. spends nearly 70 minutes on TikTok per day
  • A child in Spain plays Roblox over 90 minutes a day 
  • 100% more children everywhere are spending time learning online. 

Today Qustodio, leaders in digital safety and wellbeing, released its 2020 report on children’s digital habits entitled “Connected More Than Ever: Apps and digital natives: the new normal”. The report looks at trends and insights on children’s screen-time habits based on app use across three major markets – the U.S., the U.K. and Spain – between 2019 and 2020. The report focuses on most popular online activities today – online video, social media, gaming and education – and includes practical advice for parents from leading experts in psychology, medicine, law and technology. 

By the start of 2020, even before the coronavirus lockdowns, children were spending more time online than ever before. Doctors, psychologists and even the creators of apps themselves, were sounding alarms about online privacy, safety and wellbeing. Parents wanted to do the right thing for their children, but they told us they felt they couldn’t keep up with all the industry trends or with all the different apps that their children were using, and they didn’t know which advice and research to trust. The arrival of Covid-19 changed the landscape dramatically and made the need for accurate information and reliable advice all the more urgent. 

That’s why Qustodio designed this report to help parents get up to speed as quickly as possible on the news about the apps their kids likely use most, understand what is typical behavior for children like theirs, and learn what they can do to help avoid any potential problems and create good digital habits. 

According to Eduardo Cruz, Qustodio CEO and co-founder, “We now live in a world with an estimated 25 billion connected devices worldwide. Many of those in the hands of children. In these times of hyper-connectivity and de-escalation, we must redouble our efforts to protect our children. It is our job to do everything possible to protect and guide them online. If we have digital children, we must be digital parents.” 

We also designed this report to be useful to leaders in technology, government and health, who look to our insights to help them continue to alert the public about the potential dangers of excessive online activity and to push for better legislation to protect children.

This report is Qustodio’s first of study into children’s digital habits and we will follow up on these insights on an annual basis. It is also a companion report to the Digital Wellbeing study we released in March that looked at both parents’ and children’s attitudes toward their technology. Both reports provide useful tips from experts to help families achieve safety and balance online in our hyper-connected world.

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