Every five years or so, Common Sense Media, the American non-profit that families use to check films, games and apps, counts how kids really spend their free time. The 2026 edition came out on 27 October, and it's the first one that also counts AI.
They asked 1,211 children aged 9 to 17, a sample built to look like the whole of the US. Homework and school screens don't count. This is only fun time: TV, YouTube, games, social media, chatbots.
The hours
A typical teenager spends about 8 hours and 15 minutes a day on screens for fun. A typical 9 to 12-year-old, about 5 hours. And it's not just a few heavy users pulling the average up: 43% of teens spend 10 hours or more.
Weekends are where it really climbs. For the younger ones, weekday screen time is under 5 hours, and on Saturday and Sunday it jumps to almost 8. If you've ever said "just one more episode" and then lost the afternoon, you know exactly how that happens.
The phone birthday
This is the number that will start arguments at the school gate. A quarter of 9-year-olds already have their own smartphone. At 10 it's almost half, 47%. At 11, 57%. By 17, 94%.
So the big jump happens between 9 and 10. In plenty of families, that's the year the phone comes with the birthday cake.
AI arrives early
This is the first census that asks about AI, and the answer is: it's already everywhere. 65% of kids use AI tools in their free time, 77% of teens and 49% of tweens. And half of tweens have used an AI chatbot even though most of these apps say you must be 13.
Those who use it on a given day spend about an hour with it. Not for homework, remember. For fun, for chatting, for questions.
The twist: they don't love it
Here's the part I didn't expect. Kids use a lot of things they don't really enjoy. Only 11% of teens who use AI say they like it "a lot". 86% of teens use social media, but fewer than half say they really enjoy it.
And almost half of teens, 48%, say themselves that they spend too much time on screens. Short videos are the exception: 82% of teens watch them every day, almost two hours, and most of them do love it.
Reading for fun is losing the fight. On the day of the survey, 45% of tweens read something for pleasure. For teens, 23%.
"Time spent with media and the value that young people get from it are not the same thing," the report says. Founder Jim Steyer adds that platforms and lawmakers must make sure age limits "work as designed, not just as written".
What it means for you
First, breathe. The report itself says screen time alone doesn't decide whether an experience is good or bad. A video call with grandma and three hours of random clips are not the same thing.
Second, the most useful finding is the enjoyment gap. If your kid scrolls for hours and doesn't even like it, that's a door you can open. Ask: "What did you watch today that was actually good?" Then ask what was boring. Kids are often relieved when someone notices.
Third, AI is already in their pocket, at 9. Ask which chatbot they use and what they ask it. Try it together once. You might learn something, and they'll love being the teacher for a change.
And if you're reading this on your phone at 11pm, well. No judgment. Same here.