Stuck in the Net: How Much Time Children Spend Online
On average, a schoolchild spends 48 hours a week on studies—equivalent to a six-day working week for an adult. This was highlighted by experts at the round table ‘Domains of Children’s Well-Being Evaluation for Human Potential and Evidence-Based Social Policy Development,’ held as part of the 25th Yasin (April) International Academic Conference.
The event was opened by Lilia Ovcharova, HSE Vice Rector and Director of the Institute for Social Policy. She noted that child wellbeing is a key issue not only on the global agenda but also in Russian national projects.
The vice rector pointed to two trends that currently concern experts most: children’s health—including mental health—and their lives in the digital environment. ‘The internet and gadgets make leisure more accessible and diverse, but at the same time, we must acknowledge that prolonged time in the digital realm has now become a threat,’ she emphasised.
According to an OECD report, the optimal amount of time children and adolescents should spend online without negatively affecting their health and wellbeing is two hours on weekdays and four hours on weekends. In reality, however, children are spending much more time in digital environments.
Leila Zotova, Head of the Departmental Project Office of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, spoke about measures being implemented under the national project ‘Youth and Children.’ She stated that the project covers all the main aspects of child wellbeing: family, environment, peer relationships, emotional intelligence, support and encouragement of initiative, physical activity, and creativity.
Maria Nagernyak, HSE Deputy Vice Rector and Head of the Centre for Well-Being and Time Use Research, together with centre expert Natalia Mikhailova, presented a study on how Russian children spend their time. The project, ‘Perception of Quality of Life by Children and Parents and Children's Time Budgets,’ was carried out within the framework of the world-class Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Centre.
The study involved over 1,200 parents and their children aged 5–17, with both groups completing questionnaires. It was found that, on average, schoolchildren spend 48 hours per week studying—the same as a six-day adult working week. In upper secondary school (ages 14–17), girls have less leisure time compared to middle school (ages 11–13), while boys’ leisure time remains stable. Children of parents with higher education tend to spend more of their free time on educational activities during the week, whereas children of parents without higher education spend significantly more time on online games.
The most popular activities among children and their peers are online gaming, watching short videos, and attending sports clubs. On average, children spend about 5.5 hours a day on gadgets during the week, and this increases with age. Children from more affluent families are more likely to engage in educational and active leisure than those from less well-off backgrounds.
Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, Head of the Moscow Office of the Regional UNICEF Office for Europe and Central Asia, and Karen Avanesyan, a statistics and monitoring specialist from UNICEF’s Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring, shared international insights and presented the results of a comparative analysis of child wellbeing across various countries. Representatives from Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan), Kuralay Mukhambetova and Gulazia Issakhova, also spoke about their country’s experience in studying and assessing child wellbeing. Additionally, Olga Melnik, an expert from the Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University, shared Belarus’s perspective.
Participants in the round table also included Sergej Pilipenko, Vice Rector for Development at the Russian State University for the Humanities, and Lyudmila Goryunova, CEO of Mikhailov & Partners Analytics, who addressed the topics of bullying and cybersecurity among Russian schoolchildren.
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