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

Limiting up-close reading time outside of school — screen time or otherwise — may help slow the progression of nearsightedness in children. —Benjamin Botsford, CNN, 10 June 2024

For more screen time, look no further than our picks for the Best Computer Monitors of 2024. —K. Thor Jensen, PCMAG, 20 May 2024

These apps run in the background on smartphones, collecting different sets of data not only on typing but also on the user’s movements, screen time, call and text frequency, and GPS location to monitor social activity and sleep patterns. —IEEE Spectrum, 19 May 2024

It’s worsened by lifestyles marked by more high-salt junk food and screen time but less sleep and exercise. —Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, 6 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1921, in the meaning defined at sense 1