Cohort profile: The Australian Children of the Digital Age (ACODA) longitudinal cohort study measuring the digital lives of Australians during early childhood

The ACODA study is the first longitudinal cohort to document the digital lives of Australian children aged 6 months to 5 years, revealing that nearly all participants have home internet access and frequently use devices like televisions and tablets for entertainment and learning, often alongside caregivers.

The Gist

Imagine a massive, nationwide snapshot being taken of Australian families, but instead of capturing a single moment in time, this study is setting up a long-term time-lapse camera. This is the ACODA study (Australian Children of the Digital Age), a project designed to watch how young Australian kids (from 6 months to 5 years old) interact with the digital world inside their own homes.

Think of this paper as the "Season 1" report card for that camera. It doesn't just ask, "How much time did they spend staring at a screen?" (which is like only counting the minutes on a clock). Instead, it asks, "What were they watching? Who were they with? Where were they sitting? And what were they doing?"

Here is the story of what the researchers found, broken down into simple, everyday concepts:

1. The Digital Living Room is Everywhere

If you walked into almost any Australian home in this study, you would find a digital ecosystem.

• The "Water" Analogy: Digital technology is as common as water in these homes. 98% of the families had internet access.
• The "Furniture" Analogy: The television is the new fireplace. 97% of homes had one, and 93% of the kids had used one in the last year. Tablets and mobile phones are the new side tables, present in 71% and 96% of homes respectively.
• The "Early Start": Kids aren't waiting to be toddlers to touch a screen. Even babies under one year old were watching TV (61% of them). By the time they hit age 2, 3, 4, and 5, the usage ramps up significantly.

2. The "What" and "Why" (The Menu)

The study looked at the menu of digital activities. It turns out, kids aren't just mindlessly scrolling; they have specific reasons for using these devices.

• Entertainment is the Main Course: The most common reason for using a TV, tablet, or phone is simply for fun and entertainment.
• Learning is the Side Dish: A huge chunk of usage (over 50% for TVs and tablets) is for learning activities.
• The Age Upgrade: As kids get older, their "menu" gets more complex. Older kids (3+) start using tablets and phones to play games, something younger toddlers rarely do.
• The "Who" Factor: Kids are rarely eating this digital meal alone. Most of the time, they are dining with a caregiver (a parent or guardian). It's a shared experience, not a solitary one.

3. The "Where" (The Map)

Where does this digital magic happen?

• The Living Room is King: The lounge room is the undisputed capital of digital use. Whether it's a TV, a tablet, or a phone, that's where the action is.
• The Portable Passport: While TVs stay put in the living room, tablets and phones are like travelers. They move from the kitchen to the bedroom to the playroom. However, even these travelers spend most of their time in the living room.

4. The "How Much" (The Stopwatch)

The researchers put a stopwatch on the kids' usage, but they found the numbers are a bit like a rollercoaster—there's a lot of variation.

• The General Trend: Older children (3 years and up) spend significantly more time on devices than the babies and toddlers.
• The Daily Average: On average, kids spend about 1 hour and 20 minutes a day on TVs, 1 hour and 6 minutes on tablets, and 30 minutes on phones.
• The Gender Gap: There are some small differences between boys and girls. Boys tended to watch more TV, while girls spent a bit more time on mobile phones. However, when it came to tablets, boys and girls were on equal footing.

5. The "Who" (The Participants)

The study gathered data from 3,388 families across Australia.

• The Caregivers: Most of the people filling out the surveys were mothers (90.5%). They tended to be well-educated (many had university degrees) and lived in cities.
• The Kids: The children were a mix of boys and girls, with about 8% having a diagnosed disability or condition.
• The Caveat: Because the survey was done online and required English, the study might have missed some families who don't speak English well or don't have easy internet access. Also, because many participants were highly educated, the results might lean slightly toward families who are very comfortable with technology.

The Bottom Line

This paper is essentially a detailed map of the digital landscape for Australian toddlers and preschoolers. It tells us that digital technology is already a central part of their daily lives, used mostly for fun and learning, usually while sitting in the living room with a parent.

The study is just the beginning. The researchers plan to keep watching these same families over the next five years. Think of this paper as the "Chapter 1" of a long book; it sets the scene, but the real story about how these habits change as the children grow up is yet to be written.

Technical Summary

Problem Statement
Despite Australia being one of the most digitally connected societies globally, with 93% of households having internet access, there is a lack of national, representative data regarding the digital lives of young children. Existing guidelines, such as the Australian 24-hour movement guidelines, often recommend strict screen time limits (e.g., no sedentary screen use for children under two), yet these may be unrealistic given the deep integration of technology in modern family life. Current evidence is largely cross-sectional and focused on duration rather than the nuanced contexts (content, co-use, location) of digital engagement. Furthermore, families often experience anxiety and guilt due to conflicting advice, and digital disparities persist, particularly for Indigenous Australians and those in remote or lower-income households. There is a critical need for a comprehensive, longitudinal snapshot of contemporary digital childhoods to inform equitable and developmentally appropriate guidance.

Methodology
The Australian Children of the Digital Age (ACODA) study is a longitudinal cohort study established in 2023, funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.

• Design: The study employs a multi-disciplinary approach involving researchers from Early Childhood Education, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Media Studies, and Health Sciences.
• Participants: The Wave 1 cohort consists of 3,388 caregivers of children aged 6 months to 5 years, recruited from all Australian states and territories. Recruitment was conducted via partner organizations, social media, and professional networks.
• Data Collection: Baseline data were collected between October 2023 and April 2024 via an online survey hosted by Wallis Social Research. The survey included six sections covering:
  1. Screening and basic demographics.
  2. Digital technology availability and use (devices, internet access, assistive technology).
  3. Caregiver perspectives (supervision, restrictions, information seeking, comfort levels).
  4. Child-related factors (physical activity, self-regulation, mental health, sleep, development concerns, social connectedness, identity, play).
  5. Caregiver health.
  6. Household demographics and context.
• Validation: Initial respondents (N=5,250) underwent a validation process to remove bot-generated data and confirm eligibility, resulting in the final cohort of 3,388.
• Analysis: Descriptive statistics were used to profile the cohort. Kruskal-Wallis H tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were employed to analyze differences in device use time across age groups and genders, accounting for uneven sample sizes and positive skew in time-use data.

Key Contributions
This paper presents the first comprehensive description of the ACODA study protocol and the baseline profile of the cohort. It provides the first nationally representative evidence of Australian children's digital technology use in the home, moving beyond simple screen time metrics to capture the context of use. Key contributions include:

• A detailed demographic profile of over 3,300 families, comparing them to Australian Bureau of Statistics census data.
• Granular data on device availability, ownership, and usage patterns (what, where, with whom, for how long, and for what purpose).
• Integration of child development, mental health, and self-regulation measures alongside digital usage data.
• Identification of digital disparities and the socio-economic context of digital access.

Results

• Access and Availability: 98% of homes had internet access. Televisions (97.3%), mobile phones (96.6%), and computers (84.9%) were the most prevalent devices. 93% of children used at least one device in the last year.
• Usage Patterns:
  • Devices: Televisions were the most used device (89% of users), followed by tablets (47%) and mobile phones (42%).
  • Age Trends: Digital technology use started early; 61% of children under 1 year had used a television. Usage frequency and duration increased with age. Older children (3+ years) spent significantly more time on devices than younger children (<1 year).
  • Duration: Mean daily time for users was highest for televisions (1:20), followed by tablets (1:06) and mobile phones (0:30).
  • Context: Devices were most frequently used in lounge/living rooms. The majority of use occurred with a caregiver (e.g., 94.4% for TV, 91.1% for mobile phones).
  • Purpose: Entertainment was the primary purpose across all devices, followed by learning activities. Tablet and mobile phone use for playing games increased with age.
• Gender Differences: Boys used televisions for longer durations than girls, while girls used mobile phones for longer durations. No significant difference was found in tablet use time between genders.
• Child Factors: The cohort showed high adherence to physical activity guidelines (62.8% met guidelines for all 7 days). Self-regulation scores were generally comparable to or slightly higher than norms, though sleep disturbance and mental health indicators (anxiety, depressive symptoms) trended slightly higher than the 50th percentile norms.
• Demographics: The cohort was predominantly female caregivers (91.1%), with a high proportion holding tertiary education (over 50%). The sample included a broad range of socio-economic backgrounds, though it was skewed toward major cities and higher advantage deciles.

Significance
The paper claims that the ACODA study is the first longitudinal investigation to describe the digital lives of Australian children during early childhood and the specific contexts of that use. By capturing rich, longitudinal insights, the study aims to deliver the evidence required to shape more equitable, realistic, and developmentally informed guidance for families and professionals in Australia and beyond. The authors emphasize that future waves of data will allow for the exploration of changes in digital technology use over time and its associations with child development, mental health, and caregiver factors. The study acknowledges limitations, including potential self-selection bias due to the online survey format and the high education level of participating caregivers, which may affect generalizability. However, it positions the dataset as a foundational resource for understanding the complexities of the "digital child."