Digital Media Use Patterns and Correlates of Heavy Use Among Children in Türkiye: A Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Analysis

Background/Objectives: Digital-media use is widespread among children, but nationally representative evidence on heavy use across media domains in Türkiye remains limited. We examined use patterns, associated characteristics, and profiles of heavy use. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed microdata from the 2024 Survey on Information and Communication Technology Usage by Children conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute (n = 7072; ages 6–15 years). Heavy use was defined as ≥4 h/day within a media domain. Survey-weighted modified Poisson regression with household-clustered robust standard errors estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs). Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis identified profiles of heavy use in any domain on weekdays or weekends. Results: Internet use was reported by 91.3% of children. Among at-least-weekly users of each domain, heavy weekday use ranged from 6.9% for gaming to 17.4% for smartphones. In the full sample (n = 7072), 30.4% met the heavy-use criterion in at least one domain on weekdays or weekends. Boys had a higher adjusted prevalence of heavy weekday gaming (aPR 3.33, 95% CI 2.44–4.55). Among at-least-weekly smartphone users, 58.6% reported at least one contextual use behavior; 63.5% of at-least-weekly gamers reported at least one gaming-related difficulty. Perceived reductions in reading (34.4%) and studying (33.3%) were most common. CART identified the highest prevalence among smartphone-owning adolescents aged 14–15 years who did not read regularly. Conclusions: Heavy use varied by media domain and child characteristics. Considering media domains, use contexts, and perceived everyday impact may complement duration-based assessment; combined total screen time was not measured.