screen time

noun

1

: the amount of time someone or something appears on screen in a movie or television show

… the widespread practice of product placement (in which companies buy screen time for their brands) …

—Celia Wren

Peck's role is only a cameo—23 minutes of screen time scattered through six and a half hours of edited film …

—John Skow

2

: time spent watching television, playing a video game, or using an electronic device with a screen (such as a smartphone or tablet)

Concerns about children spending too much time on digital devices—'screen time'—and becoming overdependent on these devices are very real for many teachers and parents.

—Nicky Hockly

If yours is like most American families with kids under age 5, your child probably watches between three and four hours of television a day. That's a lot of screen time …

—Debra Kent

Examples of screen time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The intrigue: The pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction, though some are subtle about screen time. —Anna Spiegel, Axios, 13 Dec. 2024

The tiny device allows kids to play music, stories, and custom recordings and drastically reduces kids’ struggle for screen time. —Cai Cramer, People.com, 12 Dec. 2024

From work to shopping to streaming to scrolling, the average American adult gets around seven hours of screen time a day. —Maria Berentzen, Vogue, 12 Dec. 2024

There are also plenty of learning apps available, including Kahn Academy Kids and Prodigy, which create a beneficial aspect of screen time. —Alex Vance, Parents, 9 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1921, in the meaning defined at sense 1