Children prefer phone time over candy

Online security firm finds kids spend 2 and half hours watching screen every day

Children in the UAE want more screen time on their mobiles than sweets according to Norton’s My First Device Report. And they’re spending more than two hours a day with their faces glued to the screen, the report suggests.

Children spend more time in front of a mobile screen than playing outdoors, with more than one-quarter of parents saying their child or children spend more time than the parents online.

Surveying nearly 7,000 parents across Europe and the Middle East with children aged between five and 16, the report explores the challenges the first generation of ‘digital first’ parents face.

These children have never known a world without smartphones and tablets. Therefore, today’s parents are embarking on a new frontier, questioning the right age at which their child should be exposed to screen time or have their own device, while also examining their personal habits and potential effects on their children.

What mothers say

Gulf News spoke to mothers across the UAE to find out when they think would be the right time to give their child a mobile phone. “Never,” Sara Al Hawary, mum of Adam aged one. “These days, there are other ways to know where your child is and to communicate with them. There are these GPS smart watches that allow you to monitor your child’s location in real time, and even call them and for them to call you. That way I can stay in touch with him and he can call me whenever he needs anything. In general, I don’t like when children use screens. Sometimes it is necessary when you have no other solution to distract them,” she said.

On average across the UAE, children spend close to two and a half hours of their leisure time on mobile devices every day, close to an hour longer than the average time spent playing outdoors.

Parents themselves feel guilty about the amount of time they spend online in front of their children, which they believe influences the children’s behaviour.

“Unfortunately, my child needs screen time, or else I could never get anything done at home,” said Haneen Majdalawi, mum of Yassin, age three.