What Influences Our Media Use?

MediaSmarts’ research shows that on average, Canadian youth spend 1-2 hours per day using digital devices each weekday (not counting time spent using them for schoolwork) and more than three hours per weekend day.[1] Average weekday screen time, therefore, falls just within the range recommended by the Canadian Pediatric Society’s Digital Health Task Force, though weekend screen time does not.[2] Other research has found that more than a third (37 percent) of Canadian youth exceeded screen time recommendations in 2023.[3] There are often significant differences, though, between how much time we think we’re spending on media and how much time we actually spend.[4]

Our sense of how much time other people – for instance, our children – are spending on media is often inaccurate. While many parents felt their children’s media use had grown significantly during the early stages of the COVID pandemic, research found that it had only increased by 17 percent. “What was different was the parents saw how much their kids were using screens because they were home with them. And what actually did increase is the severity and frequency of arguments that parents had with their kids about their screen use during the pandemic.”[5]

Other people’s media use affects ours, as well. Children are more likely to meet screen time recommendations if their parents report less screen time.[6] (It’s not true, though, that people in the tech industry – including the founders or owners of social media companies – are less likely to let their kids use media.[7]) Patterns of media use may be established early: one-year-olds with over two hours of daily screen time are twice as likely to exceed four hours a day by age eight than those who spent no time on screens (44 percent vs. 19.5 percent).[8]

Youth (and adults) choose to use media for many reasons, and those reasons are often different for different media and platforms. For example, young people are most likely to say they use TikTok because it’s entertaining and that they use Snapchat to keep up with friends and family.[9] Children engage in digital play for a wide range of reasons such as:

• wanting to develop mastery and control;
• collecting and classifying;
• socializing and building relationships;
• empathizing and nurturing;
• managing their feelings and moods;
• exploring and sensory stimulation;
• creating;
• and exploring and expressing their identities.

For example, some of the different things children enjoy about playing the Legend of Zelda games range from mastering skills within the game, to discussing the game with other players while offline, to caring for horses that the characters ride within the game.[10]

Teens often turn to media such as social media and online communities as a way of developing their mature identities and individuating themselves from their families:[11] “Individuation involves finding a balance between separating from one’s parents and remaining connected to them. On the one hand, tweens need to figure out who they are apart from their parents, and that requires some degree of separation. They start to spend more time with peers, notice symbols, trends, and memes in the broader culture, and begin to adopt some of what they’re seeing as aspects of their own identity. On the other hand, separation from one’s parents is by no means total.”[12]

Staying connected to peers is another motivator. As psychologist Lisa Damour puts it, “adolescents aren’t enthralled by technology – they’re enthralled by the peers on the other end of the technology they happen to be using.”[13] Like younger children, teens often use media for entertainment or information; inspiration, self-expression and being seen by others are also frequent motivations.[14] One of the strongest motivators for teens using social media – and one of the most common reasons for wanting to keep a connected device in the bedroom – is

the requirement to be always available, and ready to respond to messages as soon as possible… [For some,] rule violations could result in quite negative emotions, with some teens saying that in such circumstances they would feel guilty or anxious. The upshot here is that in many cases, because of the perceived need to be ‘always on,’ teens can feel deprived of a sense of agency or control; even if they want to switch off and go to sleep, there are strong social pressures preventing them from doing so. These pressures have a double-whammy effect in that they both push bedtime later and make teens feel more wired once they do go to bed.[15]

At an age where peer relationships are more important than anything else, “being constantly connected – or at least consistently available – is a baseline for preserving cherished friendships. In turn, teens worry that not being available will jeopardize closeness.”[16]

Though screen time can displace activities we want young people to engage in – such as active and independent play or socializing in person – these may simply not be available or appealing to them.[17] Studies of Canadian cities have found that whether or not a neighbourhood had spaces for children’s play, how safe it was for pedestrians, whether it contained natural environments and whether parents knew and trusted their neighbours all had an impact on how likely their children were to engage in active outdoor play.[18] “Child-friendly third places are particularly important because they support spontaneous, self-directed play that is not constrained by rigid rules or structured programming … Research shows that children growing up in marginalized neighborhoods often have the least access to safe, spontaneous and nature-based play opportunities despite potentially benefiting the most from them.”[19]

While many neighbourhoods have some of these “third spaces” suitable for children, such as libraries, parks, playgrounds and community gardens, most teens no longer have access to similar spaces except online. At an age when they need to develop more independence and autonomy, in the offline world teens “are subjected to more than ten times as many restrictions as are mainstream adults, twice as many restrictions as active-duty Marines, and even twice as many restrictions as incarcerated felons.”[20] The average American 13-year-old, for example, is only allowed to walk or bike half a kilometre from home without supervision, and even at 17 that rises to just over a kilometre and a half.[21]

Fairly often, though, we use media not because we choose to use it but rather out of habit. These may involve using particular apps or devices at certain times or in certain situations – for instance when we’re moving between other activities, or when we have short periods of time with nothing to do – but may also be “motor habits” such as swiping or tapping a particular part of the screen.[22] Particular times of day, regular events and moods (boredom in particular) can also “cue” media habits[23] so we do them automatically. Media use often happens alongside other habits. We're more likely to use apps without thinking when we're doing other routine activities, like walking the same route every day. .[24] Once we develop a media habit, it’s likely to grow stronger as it’s “cued” by things like boredom, stress or procrastination.[25]

While we may come to use any media out of habit, many devices and apps are specifically designed to be habit-forming by making themselves easy to use (reducing “friction”) and providing positive but unreliable feedback. One widely-cited example is the endless scroll of content: “Most social media sites present content through a scroll or incremental reveal of only a few posts at a time. With a scroll, posts that are particularly rewarding and pique users’ interests are embedded within a set of less rewarding posts… Thus, the scroll is a means of reward delivery that likely promotes media use habit formation.”[26] As a result, these apps can foster habits very quickly: internal research by TikTok found that users could form habits after viewing just 260 videos, which could take as little as 36 minutes.[27] Many apps aimed at young children also use a variety of features to make kids use them longer. For example, characters may ask them to keep playing or protest when they try to quit. Apps may also use notifications or rewards to encourage children to use them every day.[28]

The longer a person uses an app, however, the less impact these features have and the more their use is determined by simple habit,[29] sometimes “opening and closing apps without an evident purpose.”[30]  Some of these features may not have been designed to be habit-forming, but tech companies know they can encourage habitual use. Documents made public through lawsuits show “a recurring pattern: staff members research potential platform harms and urge caution to their superiors, who ultimately overrule them”[31] because teens are seen as too important an audience to risk losing.[32]

Notifications are a good example of the interplay between design and habit: while they’re clearly a habit-forming feature, they are responsible for only one in ten phone interactions[33] - though they may also lead us to shift to different apps after turning our phones on.[34]

How much time we spend on some media activities, such as social media, seems to be declining.[35] There’s also evidence that young people are increasingly taking steps to take control of their media use: two-thirds (63%) of Generation Z youth choose to “unplug” from media at least some of the time, a higher rate than any other generation,[36] while the number of 12- to 15-year-olds choosing to take breaks from media rose from 18% to 40% between 2022 and 2025.[37] The number of Ontario students reporting that they use social media five hours or more per day actually dropped by a third between 2021 and 2023 (from 31% to 23%).[38] When youth are asked to rate their favourite activities, “playing or hanging out with friends,” “being with family,” “sports” and “being with pets” receive similar ranks to TV, movies or social media.[39]

[1] MediaSmarts. (2022). “Young Canadians in a Wireless World, Phase IV: Life Online.” MediaSmarts. Ottawa.

[2] Ponti, M., & Canadian Pediatric Society Digital Health Task Force.  (2022) Screen time and preschool children: Promoting health and development in a digital world. https://cps.ca/en/documents/position/screen-time-and-preschool-children

[3] Brunton, C., Boco E., Facette T & Pinault L. (2026) Does screen time make a difference? A longitudinal study of youth screen time and well-being. Statistics Canada.

[4] Molaib, K. M., Sun, X., Ram, N., Reeves, B., & Robinson, T. N. (2025). Agreement between self-reported and objectively measured smartphone use among adolescents and adults. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 17, 100569.

[5] Rich, M. (2026, February 12.) Identifying and Addressing Problematic Interactive Media Use. [Conference Session] Boston Children’s Hospital. Virtual.

[6] Lampard, A. M., Jurkowski, J. M., & Davison, K. K. (2013). The family context of low-income parents who restrict child screen time. Childhood Obesity, 9(5), 386-392.

[7] Leloup, D. (2025) No, tech bosses don’t ban their kids from using screens. Le Monde.

[8] Teague. S., et al. (2026) Associations Between Infant Screen Exposure and Media Use at Age 8 Years.

[9] Faverio. M., Park E., Gottfriend J. (2026) Teens’ Experiences on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Pew Research Center.

[10] Scott, F., Chesworth, L., Kontovourki, S., Murcia, K., Murris, K., Balnaves, K., ... & Trzebiatowski, C. (2025). ‘I just go headbutt a tree or something’: Children’s contextualised digital play drivers and subjective well-being in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and Cyprus. new media & society, 14614448251406245.

[11] Rich, M. (2026, February 12.) Identifying and Addressing Problematic Interactive Media Use. [Conference Session] Boston Children’s Hospital. Virtual.

[12] Davis, K. (2023). Technology's Child: digital media’s role in the ages and stages of growing up. Mit Press.

[13] Damour, L. (2020). Under pressure: Confronting the epidemic of stress and anxiety in girls. Ballantine Books.

[14] van der Wal, A., Valkenburg, P. M., & van Driel, I. I. (2024). In Their Own Words: How Adolescents Use Social Media and How It Affects Them. Social Media+ Society, 10(2), 20563051241248591.

[15] Etchells, P. (2024). Unlocked: The real science of screen time (and how to spend it better). Piatkus.

[16] Weinstein, E., and James C. (2021) Behind Their Screens.

[17] Harley, S. (2026) After high school exercise collapses for one in three young adults as screens and disinterest take over. The GIST.

[18] Gemmell, E., Cavenaugh, A., Brussoni, M., Guhn, M., Andrade-Rivas, F., Imon, I., & Brauer, M. (2026). Development and application of a geospatial index of urban playability for young children. Cities, 170, 106642.

[19] Ozlem, C., Papin M., Hashmi S. (2025) Kids need to play—and how cities are designed and resourced affects their access, The GIST.

[20] Epstein, R. (2007). The myth of the teen brain. Scientific American Mind, 18(2), 56-63.

[21] Stone, L., Burchfiel K., Toscano M. (2026) Resilient Children, Struggling Parents: Mapping American Parenting. Institute for Family Studies.

[22] Bayer, J. B., Anderson, I. A., & Tokunaga, R. S. (2022). Building and Breaking Social Media Habits. Current Opinion in Psychology 45, 279-288.

[23] Anderson, I. A., & Wood, W. (2021). Habits and the electronic herd: The psychology behind social media’s successes and failures. Consumer Psychology Review, 4(1), 83-99.

[24] Ross, M. Q., Rhee, L., Le, H., Mount, J., Chang, Y. J., & Bayer, J. B. (2025). Smartphone habits are stronger in spaces chosen out of habit. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 41252.

[25] Anderson, I. A., & Wood, W. (2021). Habits and the electronic herd: The psychology behind social media’s successes and failures. Consumer Psychology Review, 4(1), 83-99.

[26] Anderson, I. A., & Wood, W. (2021). Habits and the electronic herd: The psychology behind social media’s successes and failures. Consumer Psychology Review, 4(1), 83-99.

[27] Gilbert, C. (2025) How TikTok keeps its users scrolling for hours a day. The Washington Post.

[28] Radesky, J., Hiniker, A., McLaren, C., Akgun, E., Schaller, A., Weeks, H. M., ... & Gearhardt, A. N. (2022). Prevalence and characteristics of manipulative design in mobile applications used by children. JAMA Network Open, 5(6), e2217641-e2217641.

[29] Anderson, I. A., & Wood, W. (2023). Social motivations’ limited influence on habitual behavior: Tests from social media engagement. Motivation Science, 9(2), 107

[30] Heitmayer, M., & Lahlou, S. (2021). Why are smartphones disruptive? An empirical study of smartphone use in real-life contexts. Computers in Human Behavior, 116, 106637.

[31] Newton, C. (2026) The Infinite Scroll Goes on Trial. Platformer.

[32] Nix, N. (2026) Leaked documents show Instagram’s plan to win back teens. The Washington Post.

[33] Heitmayer, M., & Lahlou, S. (2021). Why are smartphones disruptive? An empirical study of smartphone use in real-life contexts. Computers in Human Behavior, 116, 106637.

[34] Hollis, H., & Kina V .P. (2026) ‘I love it, but I hate it’: Young people’s experiences and expectations of growing up digital. Nuffield Foundation

[35] Törnberg, P. (2025). Shifts in US Social Media Use, 2020-2024: Decline, Fragmentation, and Enduring Polarization. arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.25417.

[36] Fink, S. (2026) Young Americans Are Unplugging, And It’s Making Them Happier. StudyFinds Analysis.

[37] Hall, R. (2025) Children limiting own smartphone use to manage mental health, survey finds. The Guardian.

[38] Boak, A., & Hamilton, H. A. (2024). The mental health and well-being of Ontario students, 1991–2023: Findings from the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS). Toronto, ON: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

[39] (2026) Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report. Ofcom.