Children in Cardiff spend 78 minutes on technology after school – the highest in the UK according to research by Legoland.
The study found that the average time UK parents allow their children to spend on technology after school is 71 minutes.
Catherine Scott, from Cardiff, is a freelance journalist and has three children under eight. She says she worries about her children’s health when it comes to technology: “Posture is very important to me – and when you see children on these handheld devices and the way they are looking down on their it puts such a bad pressure on that neck.
“Their bones are still fusing together, they are still growing. I have read surveys and they have called it iPhone neck and it is actually a phenomenon which is being researched. It can have a really negative affect on children.
“I know how difficult it can be when your kids are kicking and screaming and you think they can just have the iPad! 78 minutes does seem excessive though.”
But Darrick Evansen, a research fellow at Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, says he’s not worried about Cardiff children using technology.
He says: “I think we all anticipate it to go up in the future – I am not concerned about child being on their device for 78 minutes.
“It could be a child talking to their friends about maths homework, but I am not sure if that’s what being referred to in this report.
“The 78 minutes does seem high – but to me it actually seems a lot lower than some figures I have heard about adult television use.
“We would all like to see the number lower – but in the future if that number increases I would want to see it in a way in which is important to the development of young kids.”
The research from Legoland also shows:
- 18% of parents read to their child every night
- 6% of parents never read to their children
- Parents spend on average 19 minutes every day reading a bedtime story to their children.