Screen time and your child: what every parent needs to know

The Times | Rachel Carlyle | September 13 2015

 

Why do we assume that time in front of a screen is always bad for a child’s brain? Experts believe we need a new approach

Are you constantly telling your child to spend less time on the computer/phone/iPad, but with no clear idea why, or of how long is too long? Are you the Jekyll-and-Hyde parent who leaves the kids on the laptop for two hours, then suddenly shouts at them to switch it off immediately? Do you sometimes use the screens in your home as a babysitter? If so, then your hearts must have sunk last week as research to many hours of screen time linked to poorer GCSE grades.