We Worry About Kids’ Screen Time, but Our Parents Spend Even More Time Online. What That Means for Families

We are usually concerned about screen time when it comes to children and teenagers. But in many families, something else is happening: grandparents are now spending more time on screens than the young.

The difference is that, unlike with kids, we don’t keep an eye on them; we don’t know how much time they spend on their devices or what they are doing online until something goes wrong.

The numbers show how quickly things have changed. Pew Research Center* found in 2024 that 98% of people ages 5