Students who spend an excessive amount of time on digital recreation are more likely to be disengaged from school and learning than those with more restrained use. This partially accounts for differences in performance and sense of belonging at school between students who are moderate and excessive users of digital devices for leisure.
Finite time to learn and play
Whole student development and students’ digital leisure outside of school
As discussed in the previous section, when digital leisure takes over most of adolescents’ time outside of school (more than four hours a day spent on digital recreation), students’ academic performance and sense of belonging at school are lower than for more moderate uses. Disengagement from school and learning might be a possible mechanism behind the negative relationship between excessive use of digital leisure outside of school and academic performance and sense of belonging at school (Przybylski and Weinstein, 2017[20]). If not, a vicious circle of disengagement can take place. Students who are disengaged from learning and feel that they do not belong at school may spend more time outside of school on digital leisure activities, and the more time students spend on digital leisure activities, the more disengaged they become from learning and schooling.
This section investigates how excessive digital leisure time relates to truancy and school lateness, and students’ overall interest and motivation to learn. It shows a significant decrease in the likelihood of school participation and interest in learning among students who spend excessive time on digital leisure activities. When students invest an excessive amount of their waking time outside of school in digital leisure activities, these activities may become a distraction from schooling and learning. These findings support earlier PISA 2022 reports, which indicate that digital distraction – devices that interrupt learning time both at school and at home – is linked to poorer academic performance, rather than the digital leisure activities themselves (OECD, 2024[5]; OECD, 2023[11]).
It cannot be determined whether the vicious cycle of distraction and disengagement from learning is unique to excessive use of digital devices or if it would also occur with offline leisure activities, such as high-intensity sports. However, in many OECD countries such as in Canada and Norway, adolescents report using digital devices for leisure excessively more than they do other offline leisure activities, such as exercise or sports at the same intensity (Center for Surveillance and Applied Research, 2023[23]; Enstad and Bakken, 2024[24]). This makes the question of excessive use of digital leisure and its distraction from learning and schooling a salient question for policy.
Students who spend four hours or more a day on digital devices for leisure outside of school are more likely to skip classes or arrive late to school. Students across OECD countries who spend an average of 4 hours or more before or after school on digital devices for leisure are 1.4 times more likely to report having skipped a class in the two weeks leading up to the PISA test, after accounting for their socio-economic status and mathematics performance. In Korea and Viet Nam, students who spend at least four hours on digital devices for leisure before or after school are more than 2 times more likely to skip class than their peers after accounting for socio-economic status and mathematics performance (see Figure 3.1). As such, skipping class accounts for some of – but not all – the variation in students’ mathematics performance and sense of belonging between moderate users of digital devices for leisure and excessive users (see Tables 3.3 and 3.4).
Likelihood of skipping school when students spend at least 4 hours on digital leisure activities before or after school; based on students' reports
Notes: Only countries and economies with available data are shown. Odds ratio coefficients that are statistically significant are shown in a darker tone (see Reader’s Guide). Odds ratio coefficients are accounting for socio-economic status (measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS)) and performance in mathematics. Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the likelihood to skip school when students spent more than 4 hours a day on digital devices for leisure before or after school.
Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Table 3.1.
Levels of engagement in schooling vary by type of digital leisure activity. Students who reported spending three hours or more solely on social media are more likely to skip school than those reporting similar time use solely on other digital leisure activities. On average across OECD countries, students who are spending 3 hours a day browsing social media or communicating and sharing content online – an activity mostly done on social media platforms – are more than 1.5 times more likely to skip school than those who spend less than 3 hours on these activities after accounting for students’ socio-economic status and mathematics performance. Those who reported spending 3 hours or more on video gaming or browsing the Internet before or after school are, respectively, 1.3 and1.4 times more likely to skip school than their peers who spend less time on these activities (see Figure 3.2).
Students who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media or sharing content are 1.3 times more likely to arrive late at school compared to those who spend less time. Similarly, heavy users of video games and internet browsing are 1.28 and 1.24 times more likely, respectively, to be late than those who use these activities for less than 3 hours a day (see Figure 3.2).
Based on students' reports; OECD average
Notes: All coefficients are statistically significant (see Reader’s Guide). Odds ratio coefficients are accounting for socio-economic status (measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS)) and performance in mathematics.
Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables 3.5 and 3.7.
An excessive amount of time spent on digital recreation is negatively related not only to students’ engagement with school activities but also to their motivation to learn. In most countries and economies participating in PISA 2022, students who spend at least four hours a day on digital leisure before or after school are less likely to be interested in learning new things or believing that learning at school is useful. Students who spend an average of 4 hours or more on digital devices for leisure before or after school are less likely of enjoying learning in school in OECD countries than students who make a moderate use of digital devices for leisure before or after school after controlling for their socio-economic status and mathematics performance. Similarly, excessive users of digital devices for leisure are less likely to believe that school teaches them things that could be useful in a job after controlling for their socio-economic status and mathematics performance (Figure 3.3).
Based on students' reports; OECD average
Notes: All coefficients are statistically significant (see Reader’s Guide).
Odds ratio coefficients are accounting for socio-economic status (measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS)) and performance in mathematics.
Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables 3.9 and 3.10.