Children in the UK are spending nearly three hours a day online, with YouTube and Snapchat dominating their screen time, according to new research published by Ofcom.

The findings form part of a trio of detailed reports released by the regulator examining how children engage with the internet, how platforms influence user behaviour, and the potential for financial harm linked to online design features.

How are UK children spending their time online?

The first of the three studies offers a rare, in-depth look at what children aged 8 to 14 actually do online – not based on self-reporting, but through passive monitoring across smartphones, tablets, and computers. The results show that the average UK child in this age group spends 2 hours and 59 minutes online per day, with girls spending slightly more time online than boys.

YouTube (96%) and Google Search (95%), both owned by Alphabet, were the most widely used services among children, reaching nearly all participants in the month measured. Meta’s Facebook (including Messenger) reached 75%, and WhatsApp 63%. But it was YouTube and Snapchat that consumed the most time – together, they accounted for more than half (52%) of the total daily online usage.

Snapchat’s grip strengthens sharply in the pre-teen years: 27% of 10-year-olds used the service within a month, rising to 64% by age 12. Usage becomes even more intense in the early teens, with 13- to 14-year-old users spending an average of 2 hours 13 minutes a day on the app – nearly as much as total average screen time across all platforms for younger children.

Among gaming apps, Roblox stood out as the top-reaching platform, engaging 61% of 8-14-year-olds during the same period.

Pernicious design features influencing financial decisions

While screen time continues to grow, so too do concerns about how design features on digital platforms may be nudging children into financial decisions they don’t fully understand – or later regret. A second report from Ofcom takes a media literacy lens to the financial harms and persuasive design mechanisms children are exposed to online.

The report found that 58% of children had spent money online in the past month, whether through social media, video platforms, or games. Online gaming is especially dominant: 97% of 8-17-year-olds play games online, and 53% of them spend money within those games.

Of those who made purchases, most reported enjoying the experience – 67% of in-game spenders and 77% of social media spenders said they liked buying things online. But that enjoyment is complicated by regret: 32% regretted in-game purchases, and 43% regretted purchases on social media. Nearly 42% said they didn’t understand what they were buying, and 41% admitted to overspending.

Parents are paying attention – but oversight varies. While 84% use at least one parental control or monitoring tool, 15% report having no restrictions on their child’s spending. More than half expressed concern about their child’s online financial behaviour.

The qualitative findings highlighted the role of persuasive design features – subtle elements that can influence behaviour and spending decisions.

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These include risk-based features like loot boxes, dissociative tools like bundled in-game currencies, misleading tactics such as drip pricing, social influence elements like streak rewards, and impulse activators such as time-limited mystery deals.

These mechanics may cause either immediate or cumulative financial harm, particularly for younger users with limited understanding of digital marketplaces.

Are digital platforms doing enough?

The third report zooms out further, looking at how platform design affects both children and adult behaviour, especially in terms of safety and user control.

The findings suggest that many platforms make little distinction between adult and child accounts, offering few tailored tools or support features to help children navigate online risks. Even where parental supervision tools exist, they’re often poorly signposted or hard to activate.

Some platforms do provide time-management and wellbeing features, such as daily screen time limits – typically defaulted to one hour per day on child accounts, but rarely pre-set for adults.

Yet these limits can often be overridden with minimal effort. In many cases, platform design appears to favour passive compliance: users are encouraged to accept default settings during account creation, and given few opportunities to control how their data is handled.