Indian children spend more time on culture and media than in 2019; study time is shrinking

(AP/Representational Photo)

Indian children today are spending significantly more time engaging with cultural activities and mass-media platforms than they did five years ago, even as the intensity of use has softened. New survey findings show that combined cultural and media engagement now exceeds 230 minutes a day, up from just over 200 minutes in 2019.

Children are spending fewer minutes specifically on mass media, but participation has broadened dramatically. In 2019, 61 percent of boys and 60 percent of girls reported daily mass-media use; by 2024, the shares had risen to nearly 70 percent and 67 percent respectively. Mass-media exposure has thus become far more universal, even if less intensive on a per-child basis.

The rise comes amid growing international concern over children’s digital habits. Earlier this week, Australia imposed a nationwide ban on social-media access for those aged 16 and under, citing cognitive and mental-health risks. India’s data does not break down usage by specific platforms, but the broad uptick in media participation mirrors global trends in device access and connectivity.

While cultural and media activities have become more widespread, children are studying less on average than they did five years ago, even though more of them are engaging in learning each day. Average learning time has fallen from 430 minutes per day in 2019 to about 415 minutes in 2024—a decline visible across rural and urban areas and across genders.

Yet participation in learning activities has edged up. In 2019, around 86 percent of children engaged in learning on a given day; by 2024, the share rose to nearly 89–90 percent. Much of this increase reflects rising participation in rural areas, where the rate climbed from 85.9 percent to 89.5 percent, and among girls, whose participation rose by a similar magnitude. The data suggests learning has reached more children, but those who study now spend slightly fewer minutes on it, possibly reflecting shifts in school schedules, curriculum load or competing demands from extracurricular and digital activity.

Taken together, the findings portray a generation that is increasingly connected, culturally active and broadly engaged with media, even as academic time becomes more evenly distributed but modestly compressed.

These trends echo earlier Moneycontrol analysis showing that Indians—much like Americans—are spending less time socialising. Men appear to be becoming more ‘asocial’ than women: the share of men participating in social, community and religious activities fell from 91.4 percent in 2019 to 89.8 percent in 2024. Among women, participation slipped from 91.3 percent to 90.7 percent over the same period.