The UK's children are addicted to watching screens, a new study suggests, with as much as 10 hours a day spent staring at TVs, laptops and the like.
The revelation that the nation's kids are constantly watching something screen-based has come about after a study by npower showed that on average children spend 9 hours 54 minutes watching screens – with 2 hours 43 minutes spent watching TV.
In more important news, the study means that tabloids have a lovely new portmanteau to label the young with: 'screenagers'.
Lure of technology
"The summer holidays are traditionally a time when you expect children to be outdoors playing with their friends," said Clare McDougall, Education Programme Director from npower - who have set up the http://www.npower.com/climatecops/ website.
"But the lure of technology has made it harder to get young people to switch off. We found three-quarters of children aged seven have a television in their room."
Alongside spending a few hours watching TV, teens today also spend 54 minutes looking at playlists on iPods and other PMPs.
McDougall offers this bit of sage advice to those who are addicted to the screen: "They should make the most of their break and try something different, even for just an hour a day."
So, are your tweens turning into screenagers? Are these word-blends annoying you as much as they annoy TechRadar? Answers on a digital postcard please.
Via the Daily Mail
Your comments (2) Click to add a new comment
afroboy70
August 17th 2009
2. Are most adults Screenagers too?
7 hours at work = roughly 5 hours in front of a PC (Job dependant of course)
+
2 hours of a DVD at night or even a trip out to the cinema
= 7 hours of screens
plus any home internet browsing/gaming/does mobile phone use count?
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getsugatenso
August 17th 2009
1. well then this is just a poor excuse, it would be the parents who need to get them doing something enguaging, but if they are lazy, then there really is no helping them unless they start to help themselves.
on the other hand there is the IT students, wanting to become programmers and networking professionals, you cant blame them for being infront of a screen for more than 10 hours
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