Moderate digital leisure users perform better academically and have more positive well-being than excessive users.
Finite time to learn and play
Whole student development and students’ digital leisure outside of school
This section summarises key PISA 2022 findings on the relationship between digital leisure time outside of school and students’ academic performance and well-being at school1. It shows that moderate users of digital devices for leisure have higher mathematics performance and a stronger sense of belonging at school than their peers who spend either little or excessive time on digital devices. However, even a relatively small amount of time spent on digital leisure before and after school (one hour) is associated with lower overall well-being, as measured by the self-reported life satisfaction index in PISA 2022.
Contrary to common belief, spending time on digital devices for leisure when it does not interfere directly with learning time is not necessarily associated with lower performance in mathematics. Across OECD countries on average, students who spend between two and four hours a day before or after school on digital devices for leisure had higher mathematics scores in the PISA 2022 test than those who spend less time on digital devices for leisure. And students who spend over four hours on digital devices for leisure before or after school had lower mathematics scores than those spending between two and four hours. A similar pattern is also observed for time spent on digital devices for leisure on weekends, with a tipping point after five hours. At school, however, the relationship between mathematics performance and digital leisure is negative starting at one hour of use (see Figure 2.1 and PISA 2022 Volume II Figure II.5.14).
This non-monotone relationship is observed across PISA 2022 participating countries and economies, regardless of the average time spent on digital leisure outside of school. For example, Estonia, the OECD country with the highest average time on digital leisure activities before or after school (3.7 hours), and Japan with the lowest OECD average (1 hour), all show the same shape of the relationship between digital leisure time and performance (see Figure 2.2).
Additionally, the same shape of the relationship between digital leisure time and performance is also observed for disadvantaged and advantaged students with parallel curves. Notably, girls who spend moderate time on digital devices across OECD countries had scored 22 points in mathematics than girls who spent limited time (up to two hours) and 28 points lower than boys who are moderate user (see Table 2.2). One possible explanation for these gender differences might be the type of digital leisure activities (more social media among girls and more video gaming among boys) (Borgonovi, 2016[17]; Avvisati and Borgonovi, 2023[18]).
Based on students' reports; OECD average
Notes: The categories of time are delimited such that the lower limit is not included and the upper limit is included. For instance "1 to 2 hours" means "above one hour and up to two hours of use"
Differences between categories that are not statistically significant are marked with dotted lines (see Reader’s Guide).
Differences between categories of time spent on digital devices for leisure before or after school are all statistically significant.
Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Table 2.1.
Based on students' reports; selected cases
Note: Differences between categories are all statistically significant (see Reader’s Guide).
Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Table 2.2.
PISA countries and economies that have higher shares of moderate users of digital devices for leisure before or after school, also have higher mean scores in mathematics (R²= 0.46) (see Figure 2.3). This positive relationship holds even after accounting by gross domestic product per capita (GDP per capita). Accounting for GDP per capita, the strength of the relationship the relationship between mathematics performance and time spent on digital leisure decreases (R²=0.29).
Performance in mathematics and share of students who reported to spent between 2 and 4 hours a day on digital devices for leisure before or after school; Based on students' reports
Note: Only countries and economies with available data are shown.
Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables I.B1.2.1 and 1.1.
Across OECD countries, students who spend between one and four hours a day before or after school on digital devices for leisure reported a greater sense of belonging at school than those who spend less than one hour or more than four hours. A similar pattern is observed for digital leisure usage over the weekend, with students’ sense of belonging peaking between two and four hours of use (see Figure 2.4). As digital devices play a structural role in adolescents’ social life in communicating with peers, understanding, and relating to popular trends and references, students who have a more restricted digital leisure time may find it more difficult to relate to their peers at school, which can contribute to a feeling of social isolation (Smith, Leonis and Anandavalli, 2021[19]). Additionally, disadvantaged students are more represented among limited users of digital leisure outside of school than their advantaged peers (see Section 1), and they are also more likely to report feeling isolated at school than their advantaged peers, as shown in PISA 20022, Volume II, Table II.B1.1.13.
Based on students' reports; OECD average
Notes: The categories of time are delimited such that the lower limit is not included and the upper limit is included. For instance "1 to 2 hours" means "above one hour and up to two hours of use"
Differences between categories that are not statistically significant are marked with dotted lines (see Reader’s Guide).
Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Table 2.3.
While this policy paper primarily focuses on digital leisure outside of school, PISA 2022 also offers insights into digital leisure within school settings. PISA in Focus No. 124 (PIF), titled “Managing screen time: how to protect and equip students against distraction,” presents an analysis of the associations between digital leisure at school and students’ learning outcomes and well-being. According to the PIF, 30% of students report being distracted by digital devices during every or most of their mathematics lessons. In Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, this proportion exceeds 50%, whereas in Japan and Korea, it is below 10%. The analysis also indicates that students who spend more than one hour on digital devices for leisure at school tend to have mathematics scores that are, on average, over 9 points lower and report a lower sense of belonging at school compared to students who do not engage in leisure digital activities during school hours.
Source: (OECD, 2024[5])
Students who reported one to two hours a day on average reported greater life satisfaction than those who do not use digital devices for leisure at all, as well as those who spend over two hours a day (see Figure 2.5). This non-monotonic pattern is consistent with findings from national studies and surveys in several OECD countries exploring the relationship between recreational use of digital devices and adolescents’ well-being (Przybylski and Weinstein, 2017[20]; Twenge, Spitzberg and Campbell, 2019[21]).
Given the central role of digital devices in adolescents’ lives, it is expected that some use of digital devices for leisure would help students feel more satisfied with their lives overall. They enable adolescents to socialise and communicate with their peers and keep informed and engaged with the world around them (Gottschalk, 2019[22])). However, many 15-year-olds’ digital leisure time across PISA-participating countries and economies exceeds 2 hours daily. In OECD countries, over half of 15-year-old students (51%) reported, on average, spending more than 2 hours a day on digital devices for leisure outside before or after school (see Table 1.1 and PISA 2022 Volume II Table II.B1.5.62).
Based on students' reports; OECD average
Notes: The categories of time are delimited such that the lower limit is not included and the upper limit is included. For instance "1 to 2 hours" means "above one hour and up to two hours of use"
Differences between categories that are not statistically significant are marked with dotted lines (see Reader’s Guide).
Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Table 2.5.
← 1. Well-being at school is here measured through students’ report about their sense of belonging at school in PISA 2022.