Concept 2 · Experiences
2.1 Screen Time and Young People
Unit 2 · Leisure Time · Section A: Leisure in a Digital World
What it means to navigate a screen-saturated world
This research report explores how screen time affects teenagers’ mental health, self-image, and daily life. It also examines the benefits of taking breaks from screens and finding a healthy balance between online and offline activities.
Inquiry Questions
- How does screen time affect teenagers’ mental health and social development?
- What is the difference between healthy and harmful screen use?
Explain — How does screen time affect teenagers’ mental health, self-image and daily life?
Analyze — Why can taking regular breaks from screens improve well-being?
Evaluate — Should teenagers find a balance between online and offline activities? Why?
🎧 Listening · Research report
Screen Time and Young People
An original pedagogical listening script; it synthesizes data from the Common Sense Census (2019) and the WHO’s ICD-11 gaming disorder guidelines. This version was written for this course to match the questions the textbook asks about it, so treat the figures as illustrative.
Now playing · the findings
Each finding appears as it is spoken, so you can listen, read, or both.
Teenagers today spend an average of seven hours a day on screens — and that figure does not include school screen time.
Not all of that is harmful. Screen time is not one thing: a video call with a grandparent, a documentary, and three hours of scrolling are not the same activity, and they do not have the same effect.
Heavy social media use is linked to increased anxiety and loneliness. Constant comparison with other people’s edited lives can lower self-esteem, particularly during the teenage years, when identity is still forming.
Gaming is more complicated. Games can improve problem-solving, hand-eye coordination and teamwork, and for many young people they are a genuine social space. But in 2019 the World Health Organization recognized gaming disorder as a mental health condition, where gaming begins to interfere with sleep, school and relationships.
Research consistently shows that taking regular breaks from screens can improve mood, concentration, and sleep quality. Outdoor activities and creative hobbies offer advantages that screens cannot replicate. Even short periods in nature can reduce feelings of stress.
Experts recommend the “20-20-20 rule”: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.
Young people who set clear boundaries, such as avoiding phones before bed, feel more in control of their habits. The goal is not to eliminate screens. It is balance.
In the exam · Multiple choice · the speaker’s main purpose
It looks like this: Four options, a to d. Usually two of them are TRUE statements about the text — they are just not what the whole text is for.
Always: cross out any option containing an extreme word (completely, always, banned, eliminate) — a research report almost never argues an extreme. Then, of what is left, choose the option that covers the whole text rather than one paragraph of it.
B · Listen again and fill in the blanks
0 of 5 correct. One word per gap unless it is obviously a number.
Research consistently shows that taking regular breaks from screens can improve mood, (1), and sleep quality. Outdoor activities and creative hobbies offer advantages that screens cannot (2). Studies show that even short periods in nature can (3) feelings of stress. Experts recommend the “20-20-20 rule”: every 20 minutes, look at something (4) feet away for at least 20 seconds. Finally, young people who set clear boundaries, such as avoiding phones before bed, feel more in (5) of their habits.
In the exam · Gap fill
It looks like this: One paragraph from the recording with five words removed and numbered (1) to (5).
Always: read the whole sentence back with your word in it. The grammar of the sentence tells you the form: “can reduce”, not “reduces”; “in control”, not “in controlled”. Students lose these marks on the ending of a word they already knew.
Paper 1 · Listening · Section C
Spend about 4 minutes
Listen again and answer the following question.
What does the audio say about the effect of social media on self-esteem? Use evidence from the audio.
The mark weights shown are teaching weights, worked out from the textbook’s own task types and its Justify–Reason–Evidence structure. They show you how a full answer is built and what an examiner is looking for. They are not a published ministry mark scheme.
Paper 1 · Reading & Listening
Spend about 1 minute
State whether the statement is True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG). Justify your answer.
“Teenagers spend an average of seven hours on screens, including school screen time.”
The mark weights shown are teaching weights, worked out from the textbook’s own task types and its Justify–Reason–Evidence structure. They show you how a full answer is built and what an examiner is looking for. They are not a published ministry mark scheme.
State whether each statement is True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG). Justify your answer.
The book works the first one for you. Copy its shape: the letter, then one sentence pointing straight at the text.
1. Teenagers spend an average of seven hours on screens, including school screen time.
2. Heavy social media use is linked to increased anxiety and loneliness.
3. The WHO recognized gaming disorder as a mental health condition in 2019.
4. Taking regular breaks from screens can improve mood and sleep quality.
5. All forms of screen time are equally harmful to mental health.
Vocabulary · Match the word to its meaning
Tap a word, then tap its meaning. A wrong pair simply will not lock — 0 of 8 matched.
Screen Time Around the World
| Country | Screen Time Trends | What Egypt Can Learn |
|---|---|---|
| Egypt | increasing screen time; social media popular; limited outdoor space in cities | create safer outdoor spaces |
| Finland | less screen time; more outdoor activities; excellent education system | balance screens with nature |
| USA | high screen time; growing concern about mental health | provide mental health education |
Compare and contrast. 1. How might cultural values in Egypt influence screen time habits? 2. What can Egypt learn from countries with lower screen time? 3. What unique challenges do Egyptian teenagers face regarding screen time?
Question 3 is the one worth preparing. The table gives you the answer — limited outdoor space in cities — and an answer that links it to structural barriers from Unit 1 is doing something an examiner notices.
Writing Task · FIVE sentences
Choose one topic and write five sentences about it.
- • Evaluate — To what extent is screen time more harmful than beneficial for teenagers?
- • Evaluate — Should schools restrict students’ use of social media? Give your view.
- • Analyze — To what extent is a balance between screen time and other leisure activities the key to well-being?
Three exam habits from this lesson
- On multiple choice, cross out the extreme option first, then pick the one that covers the whole text.
- Count the marks in the bracket, and write that many separate moves.
- Never write the True/False letter without the justification — it is half the marks.
Speaking · pairs or small groups. What do you enjoy doing in your free time, and how do you decide how to spend it? Does screen time count as a leisure activity? To what extent does social media create unrealistic expectations about lifestyle and identity? Build your ideas with: “From my perspective, … because …”, “The evidence suggests that …, which means …”, “I would argue that …, although I acknowledge that …”.
Presentation task. Choose Topic A (how screen time affects mental health — use at least TWO effects from the reading), Topic B (do gaming’s benefits outweigh its risks — both sides, then your own opinion with a reason), or Topic C (how Egyptian teenagers can balance screens with offline life — refer to the audio and to your own daily life). Structure: opening → main idea → conclusion.