screen time

noun

: 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

: 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 American kids are being walloped by a hurtful combination, says social psychologist Jonathan Haidt: too much screen time and too little autonomy. —

Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR, 14 Apr. 2024 Her upcoming love scenes are so iconic (and steamy) that during an interview earlier this year, the actress joked that requesting for them to be toned down could result in a loss of screen time. —

Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 13 Apr. 2024 Hoffman, according to sources, doesn’t log enough screen time to make an impression. —

Matt Donnelly, Variety, 10 Apr. 2024 Family Link lets parents set up screen time limits, approve or block apps and help control your child’s YouTube experience. —

Larry Magid, The Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2024 But the Temple storyline, which runs for the most part on a separate track from Franklin’s and occupies a good deal of screen time, seems designed primarily to get some roistering young people into a series dominated by sedentary middle-age and elderly folk. —

Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024 Apple recently allowed third-party developers to write software that accesses the iPhone’s Screen Time function, meaning that some new programs can now help users limit their screen time by blocking apps. —

Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2024 There are many tools that allow parents to monitor and set limits on their children’s screen time. —

Vjosa Isai, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2024 Last year, Chinese regulators introduced a rule that would limit children under age 18 to two hours of smartphone screen time each day. —

Max Zahn, ABC News, 19 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'screen time.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.