When Pew Research Center fielded a survey of U.S. parents at the beginning of March 2020, they knew the conversation around children and technology was at the forefront of many parents’ minds. Yet no one knew just how relevant that conversation would become in the months ahead. In April 2021, the Center followed up with many of the same parents they surveyed in March 2020 to check in on their children’s use of technology and social media during the pandemic.

Here is a closer look at what these parents had to say about their young child, including how the experiences they reported in 2021 compared with their responses from 2020.

In April 2021, about eight-in-ten parents of a child who was age 11 or younger at the time of the first interview (81 percent) said their kid ever used or interacted with a tablet computer—even if just to watch videos or listen to music—up from 68 percent in March 2020. About seven-in-ten (71 percent) said the same thing about their kid’s use of a smartphone, up from 63 percent the year before. And 51 percent of parents with a young child said their child used a game console or portable game device in 2021, up slightly from 2020.

Parents increasingly expressed worry about the amount of time their child was spending on devices. When asked about screen time in April 2021, a quarter of all parents of a young child said that their child spent too much time on a smartphone; about the same share (23 percent) said their child spent too much time playing video games; and about one-in-ten (8 percent) said the same about time on social media sites.

While social media is an excellent tool for staying in touch with friends and family, finding communities based on interests and communicating quickly, it can also negatively impact mental health, according to a recent article from Zocdoc. Seventy-two percent of Americans use some form of social media, and many check their social media at least once daily.

Studies show that 90 percent of teens ages 13 to 18 have used some form of social media. One report found that 95 percent of teens are engaging with YouTube and 67 percent are on TikTok. Click here to read more about How to Tell if Social Media Is Harming Your Mental Health.