Children spend twice as long looking at gadgets as they do talking to their parents

CHILDREN are spending an average of 23 hours a week on smartphones and other gadgets – twice as much time as they spend conversing with their parents, polling suggests.

The survey of 2,000 families with children below the age of 14 found that on average they were spending three hours 18 minutes a day on devices. By contrast, they were found to be spending one hour 43 minutes a day engaged in conversation with their family.

The polling follows new advice from the Chief Medical Officer, which urges parents to take more control over their children’s digital habits, and ban smartphones from family meals, and from bedrooms at night.

The survey found four in five parents said they had tried to persuade their children to spend less time on their personal devices. And two in five admitted to giving children devices in order to keep them occupied.

The polling, carried out by Censuswide for music streaming company ROXI, found 54 per cent of parents worry that their children are missing out by spending too much time isolated on their devices, and two thirds said they wished they had more family time.

Those living in London spent most time on their devices – an average of four hours 42 minutes a day, while those in the South East and Wales spent an average two hours 36 minutes. The review said there was not enough published research to support any specific daily limit for screen time.

But the advice from the UK’S four chief medical officers suggests parents should take a “precautionary approach” and not allow children to spend more than two hours at a time on smartphones and other gadgets.

The new guidance on screen time and social media follows a review of the evidence about the impact of screentime on children’s mental health and well-being. It found that heavy use of social media was associated with a doubling in depressive symptoms.

Damian Hinds, the Education Secretary, yesterday urged the technology industry to make it easier for parents to limit screen time.

Mr Hinds said: “The makers of the hardware can help in making sure, if there are controls to limit screen time and stuff, that should be as easy as possible.”