Ages 11–13
Screen time and online safety for ages 11–13
The biggest jump. Social comparison, group chats and late-night scrolling all start here.
Screen time — what experts recommend
Protect sleep, movement, schoolwork and offline relationships. The US sleep guidance linked below recommends 9–12 hours for ages 6–12 and 8–10 hours for ages 13–18; needs change across this age band. Agree a screen-free wind-down and review how your child is coping.
UK context: Separate family rules from formal guidance. Canada’s linked guideline suggests no more than 2 hours of recreational screen time for ages 5–17; this is not a UK rule or a quota specifically for social media. The UK activity guidance and international sleep advice address other parts of the day.
Total time across phone, tablet, TV, console and computer combined (school work usually excluded).
Evidence and practical considerations
- Screen use and sleep are associated in many studies, but an exact one-hour loss should not be assumed for every child with a phone in their bedroom.
- The US Surgeon General’s advisory describes both potential benefits and risks of social media and limitations in the evidence. It cannot predict an individual child’s outcome.
- Ask about upsetting content, appearance comparisons and unwanted contact; seek support if distress persists.
Sources around the world
- UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines (July 2026)
UK Chief Medical Officers · UK
- 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, ages 5–17
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology · Canada (international guidance)
- Sleep duration guidance
NHLBI / US National Institutes of Health · USA (international guidance)
Typical digital behaviours
- TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram (often under-age)
- Sharing location with friends
- Late-night messaging
Risks that actually matter
- Body image pressure and comparison spirals
- Snap streaks driving compulsive use
- Strangers sliding into DMs
Settings worth changing tonight
- Private accounts on every social app
- Disable ‘suggest my account to others’
- No phones in the bedroom overnight
How to talk about it
- Agree a family media plan together — write it down
- Promise no-blame reporting if anything weird happens
Red flags worth investigating
- Hiding the screen when you walk in
- New ‘older’ online friends you’ve never heard of
If you want to know more from the experts
Studies, guidance and background reading
Hand-picked from paediatricians, regulators, academic journals and investigative reporting around the world. Open in a new tab.
- ReportSocial Media and Youth Mental Health — AdvisoryUS Surgeon General (2023)Landmark advisory: heavy use ≈ doubled risk of depression and anxiety symptoms.
- StudyAssociations Between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Among US YouthJAMA Psychiatry (2019)
- StudyAdolescent sleep and the impact of technology use before sleepSleep Health (2018)Phones in bedrooms cost teens ~1 hour of sleep per night on average.
- BookAfter Babel — research summariesJonathan Haidt — The Anxious GenerationFree deep-dive essays behind the bestselling book on smartphones and adolescent mental health.
- VideoiGen: What today's super-connected kids tell us about ourselvesTED — Jean Twenge
- ReportChildren and parents: media use and attitudesOfcom (UK, 2024)
- StudyScreen time and sleep among school-aged children and adolescents: a systematic literature reviewSleep Medicine Reviews (2015)Review of 67 studies; most found associations with shorter or later sleep. Causation was not established and results varied.