How Parents Spend Their Digital Time After Kids Are Asleep

Setting rules and boundaries for your kids' tech and social media use is an omnipresent challenge of modern parenting. But once the kids are finally asleep, most parents wind down with their own digital media routine.

According to the 2018 American Family Survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University and Deseret News, the majority of parents spend their time before bed engaged in digital activities including talking or texting on their smartphones, using social media, watching movies or TV shows, and gaming.

BYU and Deseret surveyed 3,000 US adults on a broad range of topics about family life, including how parents spend their time after putting the kids to bed.

Of the survey sample, 37 percent (approximately 1,110 respondents) reported that they have children at home. Among both mothers (81 percent) and fathers (76 percent), the most popular activity was watching TV or a movie at least once a week or more. The survey didn't collect data on whether respondents watched traditional cable or a streaming service, or whether they watched on TV or another connected device.

Parents scroll Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as often as the rest of us. For 71 percent of mothers and 60 percent of fathers, the second most popular activity was social media usage. Talking and texting wasn't far behind, with 66 percent of moms and 53 percent of dads surveyed saying that when the kids go to sleep, they call and message friends and family to stay connected.

Comparatively, having sex came in behind all three of those activities that involve staring at a screen. A little over half of respondents (56 percent of fathers and 53 percent of mothers) said it happens once a week or more.

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Video games are another popular parental activity, with 35 percent of both moms and dads saying they wind down by playing games. But for about half of parents, good old analog media is still a regular activity: 52 percent of mothers and 49 percent of fathers said they read a book before going to bed.

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