On this page: About the National Data | Methodology | History
About the National Data
Data
Baseline: 43.9 percent of children aged 2 to 5 years had total screen time of no more than 1 hour a day in 2018-19
Target: 48.9 percent
Methodology
Questions used to obtain the national baseline data
From the 2018 National Survey of Children's Health:
Numerator:
ON MOST WEEKDAYS, about how much time did this child spend in front of a TV, computer, cellphone or other electronic device watching programs, playing games, accessing the Internet or using social media? Do not include time spent doing schoolwork.- Less than 1 hour
- 1 hour
- 2 hours
- 3 hours
- 4 or more hours
Methodology notes
Screen time was defined as time spent watching TV or videos, playing computer games, or using a computer outside of school. Screen time was estimated from responses to the question on time spent (1) in front of TV, computer, cellphone or other electronic device watching programs, playing games, accessing the Internet or using social media, doing things other than schoolwork. Response options were as follows: less than 1 hour, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, and 4 or more hours. None was counted as less than 1 hour.
Children and adolescents were categorized as meeting screen-time recommendations if the combined screen time was 1 hour or less per day. Missing values due to non-response are not included in the denominator when calculating prevalence estimates.
History
In 2021 due to changes in 2018-2019 survey screen time questions the baseline has been revised from 26.2% to 43.9% and the target has been adjusted using the original target setting method from 30.7% to 48.9%.
1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.