Four in five schoolchildren, some from as young as four years old, own at least one digital device and almost a third are allowed to take them to bed every night.
Dean and Kylie Banks have adopted a rigid approach allowing their son Archie, 9, half an hour of screen time a day.“The other finding that was really surprising to us is the very high rate of parents who admit that they are distracted themselves [at 90 per cent],” said Professor Pasi Sahlberg, the institute’s deputy director and the report’s co-author.
The next phase will examine views of the children, aged 5 to 17. Professor Sahlberg hopes the project will provide baseline data against which future surveys can be compared, to map changes in attitudes towards technology. However, Jocelyn Brewer, a psychologist who specialises in helping teens navigate the digital world, said the study’s sample size was small and not representative of the population.
Nor could surveys address the nuances, such as exactly what children were doing with their devices at bedtime, and at what age; some might be chatting on social media, but others might be listening to audiobooks or using sleep apps.
poor kids... it's noticeable here in Europe, too 😑