The screen habits of kids in the UK have been revealed and show the average child spends one hour and 50 minutes online and watches two and a half hours of TV a day. The question is, do you know how long your kids are online and what do you do to curb their onscreen time? Read on to find out more about kids’ online habits…
As the lyric goes, ”Television, the drug of the Nation/Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation” but in a survey carried out by Childwise, which polled some 2445 children about their onscreen habits, it seems TV and being online continue to take up large portions of the day.
The stats reveal that 46 per cent of kids have internet access in their bedroom, while 62 per cent own their own computer. The big figure, however, is that 65 per cent of kids go online nearly every day, which equates to kids in the UK spending 13 million hours on websites every day.
What this survey reveals about TV viewing habits is that our children are moving away from sitting in front of the ‘goggle box’ and switching to online resources instead. The survey revealed that four in five children use online ‘on demand’ services, such as BBC iPlayer and Channel 4’s 4oD. CBBC iPlayer is popular with 36 per cent of 7 – 10 year olds watching the service, while 51 per cent of kids watch BBC iPlayer.
So, what can the busy Active Dad do to curb kids’ onscreen time?
Top tips to limit kids onscreen habits
- Talk to your children about their viewing habits, what they like to watch or sites they visit, why and when.
- Draw up a viewing and user chart. Homework needs to be carried out at specific times, and TV shows marked down so kids are only sitting down to watch TV at set times.
- Don’t have the TV or the computer simply running in the background as ‘ambient noise’, as this can be a little too tempting for youngsters to simply sit down, plug in and zone out.
- The same goes for play dates, don’t have the TV as a distraction or a tool to keep a bunch of kids ‘contained’.
- Kids should never be bored with an Active Dad around but if they try using the line “but I’m bored” have a stack of books, board games or other activities on hand they can dip in to.
- Online behaviour should be monitored, do you really want your kids hanging out on social networking sites all evening? Being aware of the sites they use and for how long can help you limit their online activity.
- For persistent offenders, seriously consider Parental Software for your laptop or PC. You can monitor which sites they’re going to but more importantly you can set time limits the kids can access specific sites or apps.
Got a top tip to curb kids screen time? Let us know in the Comments below.
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