‘Children left isolated by social media’ – Morpurgo
BEST-SELLING author Michael Morpurgo has warned that children are becoming more isolated because of overuse of social media.
The former Children’s Laureate and War Horse writer is raising money for his charity, which puts young people on farms to “milk, dig potatoes and help with hay-making”.
Mr Morpurgo, 73, said that children’s “experience of life” was often limited to technology, whether it is “phones or iPads”.
“The misuse of this technology is allowing this to become such a strong culture of communication that children forget about talking to people,” he said. “They get on social media in their bedrooms, and that can be very isolating.”
Mr Morpurgo, who is best known for his children’s novels, said that “used properly” new technology can have extraordinary benefits.
But he warned: “A lot of children are suffering from too much isolation. Incidences of depression and mental illness are increasing.
“We live in a world which should be much happier. We have creature comforts, we’re not freezing cold, we have a health service that’s enabled us to have another 10 years of life... but we have more isolated lives.
“Isolation is the main culprit when it comes to mental illness and it is not helped by social media.”
His warning comes after ChildLine reported that more children are growing up feeling lonely.
The award-winning author, who admitted that he too spends “far too much time on an iPad when I should be talking to people”, said that parents should limit children’s time on mobile phones and tablet computers.
“There should be very careful and restricted use until a child has developed some sense of what they are to be used for,” he said. “Up until 11,12 or 13, it should be limited – you don’t have it on for more than an hour a day – parents should keep an eye and mobile phones should not be allowed in school.
“There are certain areas of life, like family and school, where you communicate by words, by talking to people. It is a life skill.”
The former primary school teacher added: “We know a vast amount of bullying goes on, and writing personal remarks on social media is much more insidious than fights in the playground.”
Mr Morpurgo is holding an event on May 3 at the Royal Geographical Society in London to raise money for his charity, Farms For City Children, where youngsters “put on their wellies and become farmers for a week”.