Children spending 12 hours a day in front of screens

Published on Sunday 29 January 2012 00:00

ONE in four children are spending as much as 12 hours a day sitting in front of a screen watching TV, playing video games or using Facebook.

The figures, based on a survey of 8,000 teenagers in Glasgow, also show that 13 per cent spend up to 16 hours a day looking at a computer or TV screen, with one in eight exceeding 16 hours. The findings exclude the amount of time spent using a computer for homework.

The survey, carried out by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in partnership with Glasgow City Council, found that children from deprived backgrounds were the most likely to spend longer periods of time in front of a screen.

Fiona Moss, head of health improvement at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “It is a massive amount of screen time. Families may have a limit for internet or television time, but they don’t tend to think of screen time as a totality. I would say that, overall, this is a really positive report. Some of the (other) improvements are only 3 or 4 per cent better, but we’re talking about a big population. That is significant.”

She added: “Bike ownership and physical activity reduce as you go further up the school. We have to watch that screen time does not replace these activities.”

Pupils from secondary schools across Glasgow took part in the survey, which questioned them over everything from smoking and drinking to their hopes for the future. Among the findings were that three-quarters of secondary pupils have never tried smoking and 80 per cent brush their teeth twice a day.

More than 80 per cent of the pupils said they had received relationships education, with 88 per cent saying it had prepared them well for forming and dealing with relationships.

Efforts to reduce teenage drinking also appear to be paying dividends, with the proportion of pupils reporting that they never drink alcohol rising from 46.5 per cent in 2007 to 61 per cent.

But it also emerged that 74 per cent were exposed to second-hand smoke, a figure linked to a rise in the number of young people reporting a long-term illness, up from 22 per cent to 26 per cent.

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PeterVincent

Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 05:38 PM

duelaynomore, you need to get out more yourself, there were 100 local primary school kids out training for rugby in my town this afternoon (that's about 16% of the population for that age goup), yesterday morning there was about 80 local kids playing footie, The local swimming club is oversubscribed. There are 80 kids in the local badminton club.etc etc etc The big problem is the lack of adult coaches - what's your contribution?

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Charles Linskaill

Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 02:19 AM

Children maybe spending 12 hours a day in front of screens, but that is called "the realistic life we live in today", It's called evolution, Our Forefathers lived in caves, And Men used to wear grass skirts, Nothing Wrong our Children spending 12 hours a day in front of screens, It is all far better than playing with Stupid Toy Soldiers, Train-sets, and Dollhouses as we all used to do, Why on Earth do we want our Children to be like us years ago!, Let-Go!, our Children will survive all for the better without our demented thoughts that we want our Children to live, as we lived our lives as a Child,, Which is well Passed, Dead, and Gone!

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duelaynomore

Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 02:11 AM

Children tend to follow the practices of their parents. How many of them do you see on bikes or out walking with the dog, or playing in the park with their kids? We'll be offering degrees in "couch potatoeing" soon !!! Most kids are bored stiff, and just want some physical activity (especially boys), get some of these social workers and teachers to run football clubs, etc.. Mini up to teenager groups..that'd be money better spent than filling in claim forms.

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