Is 1 hour of screen time too much?

There is no medical line for adults; the guidance that exists is for children. Against the data, 1% of internet users report less than 1 hour a day and 99% report more. Far below what internet users report. Either you are unusual or you are not counting the television.

What is the average screen time per day?

DataReportal's 2024 global mean is 6 h 36 min a day across all devices. The Philippines tops the list at 9 h 36 min, Japan is lowest at 5 h 6 min. The United States reports 7 h, the United Kingdom 6 h 18 min and Norway 5 h 48 min.

How rare is 1 hour of screen time a day?

Worldwide, about 1 in 183 internet users report 1 hour or less. In the United States it is 1 in 313, in Japan 1 in 32.

Is 1 hour of screen time a lot?

1 hour a day of screen time is more than 1% of people report, going by DataReportal's survey of internet users worldwide. The global mean is 6 h 36 min; in Japan it is 5 h 6 min, in the Philippines 9 h 36 min.

Percentile

of people worldwide report less screen time than 1 hour a day

1 hour

1 hour by group

By country

Share of internet users in each country reporting less than 1 hour a day. Country means from DataReportal; the spread is the global SD applied to each
Group	Mean	Report less than you	1 in X
World	6 h 36 min	1%	1 in 183
Philippines	9 h 36 min	<1%	under 1 in 10,000
Brazil	9 h 30 min	<1%	under 1 in 10,000
South Africa	8 h 18 min	<1%	1 in 2,207
India	7 h 42 min	<1%	1 in 861
Nigeria	7 h 36 min	<1%	1 in 741
Mexico	7 h 12 min	<1%	1 in 414
Thailand	7 h 6 min	<1%	1 in 360
Indonesia	7 h	<1%	1 in 313
United States	7 h	<1%	1 in 313
Argentina	6 h 54 min	<1%	1 in 273
China	6 h 42 min	<1%	1 in 209
Australia	6 h 24 min	1%	1 in 142
United Kingdom	6 h 18 min	1%	1 in 125
Italy	6 h 18 min	1%	1 in 125
Spain	6 h 12 min	1%	1 in 111
Canada	6 h	1%	1 in 87
France	5 h 54 min	1%	1 in 77
Sweden	5 h 54 min	1%	1 in 77
South Korea	5 h 48 min	1%	1 in 69
Norway	5 h 48 min	1%	1 in 69
Denmark	5 h 42 min	2%	1 in 61
Germany	5 h 36 min	2%	1 in 55
Netherlands	5 h 36 min	2%	1 in 55
Finland	5 h 30 min	2%	1 in 49
Switzerland	5 h 18 min	3%	1 in 39
Japan	5 h 6 min	3%	1 in 32

Percentile is the share of the group reporting less screen time than this a day. “1 in X” counts the rarer side: people at or beyond this value above the median, at or under it below. Percentiles are estimated from a normal distribution with each country's mean and the global SD of 2.2 hours.

What this means

1 hour a day is 365 hours a year, about 15 full days, or 6% of a 16-hour waking day.
That is 336 minutes less than the global mean of 6 h 36 min. The closest country mean is Japan at 5 h 6 min; in Norway, at 5 h 48 min, 1 hour is the 1st percentile.
Kept up for 45 years, the horizon our screen time test uses, 1 hour a day adds up to 1.9 years of waking life on screens.
DataReportal's figure is what internet users aged 16 to 64 told a survey, counting phones, computers, TV and consoles together. People underestimate phone time and overestimate TV, so the number is rough. It is not a peer-reviewed study, and the spread is our estimate.

Questions

Is 1 hour of screen time too much?: There is no medical line for adults; the guidance that exists is for children. Against the data, 1% of internet users report less than 1 hour a day and 99% report more. Far below what internet users report. Either you are unusual or you are not counting the television.
What is the average screen time per day?: DataReportal's 2024 global mean is 6 h 36 min a day across all devices. The Philippines tops the list at 9 h 36 min, Japan is lowest at 5 h 6 min. The United States reports 7 h, the United Kingdom 6 h 18 min and Norway 5 h 48 min.
How rare is 1 hour of screen time a day?: Worldwide, about 1 in 183 internet users report 1 hour or less. In the United States it is 1 in 313, in Japan 1 in 32.

Source: DataReportal, Digital 2024 Global Overview Report: GWI survey of internet users aged 16 to 64, self-reported daily time across all devices. A survey, not a peer-reviewed study; the SD of 2.2 hours is our estimate. Percentiles are estimated from a normal distribution with each country's mean and the global SD of 2.2 hours.

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