- Virgin Media O2 broadband data shows parents are turning to screens to entertain their children after school as they juggle work and home commitments, with traffic rising at 3:40pm every weekday.
- Despite half of parents saying they head to the park, data analysis shows many families are turning to TV and streaming services to navigate the post-school rush.
- Overall broadband traffic continues to reach all-time highs, showing the ever-growing importance of connectivity to households in modern Britain.
London, 24 April 2025: Virgin Media O2 has today released new data that shows children are reaching for screens as soon as school finishes, with a clear spike in broadband traffic at 3:40pm every weekday. The surge is being driven by data-heavy TV streaming and families watching YouTube.
The weekday traffic jump comes from Virgin Media O2’s broadband network analysis, which is a reliable indicator of the connectivity habits of the British public. Alongside the data analysis, Virgin Media O2 has asked British parents and guardians of school-age children about how they navigate the after-school period.
While half of parents say they head to the park with their children after school and many others reporting that they read together, broadband data shows many families are immediately turning to screens to navigate busy afternoons. Traffic on the network jumps at 3:40pm every week day and continues to rise until around 5pm, with YouTube topping the list of platforms typically used, cited by 61% of parents, followed by TV at 55%.
One of the main drivers for this trend is that almost half (46%) of parents regularly continue to work after picking up their kids from school and find themselves juggling work and home commitments. For many families, screens provide a practical helping hand, with 62% of parents giving their children devices to use while they cook, 47% use the time to tackle housework and a third catch up on emails and work.
It’s no surprise then that 70% consider the internet essential to their family’s daily routine. Nearly half (44%) say the household would fall apart without it and 47% admit that any WiFi issues would spark arguments over who’s hogging the connection.
Sheila Kanani, a busy working Mum of two boys aged four and nine, said: “Having access to fast internet absolutely keeps our household running. The boys love being outdoors but they also love screens – their favourites are Fortnite, YouTube, Netflix and FIFA, which all have a big impact on our family life.
“A typical afternoon is collecting the eldest from school, homework on the iPad while I cook, collecting the youngest from nursery, off to football or clubs, and then downtime with the iPad or TV to play Xbox or watch Netflix.”
Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “Our data shows just how essential connectivity is to modern family life. With parents juggling busy schedules and children going online to learn, stay entertained and chat with friends, our gigabit broadband ensures everyone stays connected – without the arguments. As busy households turn to our services more than ever, we’re investing and innovating to deliver the reliable, high-speed connectivity British households rely on.”
Virgin Media O2 is committed to upgrading its networks across the UK, to provide customers with the best experience possible, no matter where they are. This includes investing £2bn a year on its network and services to make this a reality.
Parents and guardians can get advice about how to protect their kids online via Virgin Media O2 and Internet Matters’ Find the Right Words campaign. It has advice on how to set parental controls and tools across a range of devices, and how to have more confident conversations with children about online safety. Virgin Media customers can also use the Connect App to help balance and control screen time by pausing and unpausing internet access to their connected devices.
press enquiries
press enquiries