Dataset

Daily Screen Time Among Teenagers: United States, July 2021–December 2023

Jan 2025 🇺🇸 CDC Ages 12–17

This CDC/NCHS Data Brief reports how much screen time U.S. teenagers use on an average weekday, drawing on National Health Interview Survey data collected from July 2021 through December 2023. It finds that just over half of U.S. teens ages 12–17 report four or more hours of screen time on a typical weekday outside of schoolwork — time that, added up across a school week and a school year, can amount to more hours than any single class they attend. The brief presents descriptive national estimates rather than evaluating specific health effects; TechKids Foundation uses these figures, phrased as association and displacement, to describe how much time a large share of American teenagers spend on screens outside of schoolwork, not as evidence that screen time alone determines any child's outcomes.

50.4%

of U.S. teens report 4+ hours of screen time on an average weekday, outside of schoolwork.

20+ hrs/week

arithmetic extrapolation from the daily estimate: roughly a part-time job's worth of weekly screen time.

1,000+ hrs/year

arithmetic extrapolation from the daily estimate across a school year — more hours than in any one school subject.

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CITATION

CDC/NCHS Data Brief No. 513: Daily Screen Time Among Teenagers: United States, July 2021–December 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db513.htm

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RELATED EVIDENCE

Government Report

Associations Between Screen Time Use and Health Outcomes Among US Teenagers

This CDC-published analysis in Preventing Chronic Disease examines associations between weekday screen-time use and a range of health outcomes among U.S. teenagers ages 12–17, using National Health Interview Survey (NHIS-Teen) data collected between July 2021 and December 2023. The study finds that teens who report four or more hours of screen time on an average weekday outside schoolwork are also more likely to report warning signs across several health measures, including anxiety and depression symptoms, compared with teens reporting lower screen-time levels. The authors frame these findings as associations observed in survey data, not as proof that screen time alone causes any particular outcome. TechKids Foundation treats this analysis as one data point describing patterns linked to heavy passive screen use among U.S. adolescents, not a diagnosis of any individual child.

Jan 2025 🇺🇸 CDC
Government Report

The Harms of Screen Use

This HHS Office of the Surgeon General web resource summarizes the public health case for concern about screen use among children and teens, drawing together research the office has reviewed on how screen use is associated with outcomes such as sleep loss, attention difficulties, mood changes, and social withdrawal. The page frames these as warning signs and risk factors observed across a growing body of research, not as proof that any single child's difficulties are caused by screens alone. It calls for shared responsibility among families, schools, technology platforms, and policymakers to reduce potential harms while preserving the benefits technology can offer. TechKids Foundation cites this page as an official federal public health source establishing that screen-use harms are a recognized area of concern, not a fringe claim.

May 2026 🇺🇸 HHS
Advisory

U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Harms of Screen Use

This is the formal 2026 U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Harms of Screen Use, published via the National Library of Medicine's Bookshelf. A Surgeon General's Advisory is issued when the office judges an issue significant enough to warrant the public's attention, and this one lays out the evidence reviewed for associations between screen use patterns and outcomes in children's mental health, sleep, attention, and development. The advisory calls this a public health concern warranting action from parents, educators, technology companies, and policymakers, while stating clearly that children are affected differently and that outcomes reflect many interacting factors, not screen use in isolation. TechKids Foundation treats this advisory as the highest-level federal acknowledgment that problematic screen-use patterns are linked to real risks for children, reinforcing rather than replacing the association language used throughout this campaign.

Jan 2026 🇺🇸 HHS
Org Report

TechKids Foundation — Company Profile

This is TechKids Foundation's own public organization description as published on its LinkedIn company profile, accessed July 2026. It states TechKids Foundation's mission, program focus, and how the organization describes its own work helping children move from passive technology consumption toward hands-on technology creation through robotics, 3D design, AI literacy, and entrepreneurship programming. As a self-published organizational description rather than independent research, this entry is included in the library for transparency and citation purposes — anywhere the campaign references TechKids Foundation's own stated mission or program description, this is the primary source. It is not evidence of screen-use harms and should not be read as an outcome or impact claim; those are reported separately, tied only to what the organization actually measures.

Jul 2026 🇺🇸 TechKids Foundation
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