Parents should limit children's 'screen time'

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http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC120523-0000100/Parents-should-limit-childrens-screen-time,-psychologist-warns

Parents who constantly fiddle with mobile phones or iPads in front of their children are guilty of "benign neglect" and risk driving them to a lifelong dependency on screens, a leading psychologist has warned.

A generation of young people is growing up with a virtual addiction to computers, televisions and smartphones with striking similarities to alcoholism, according to Dr Aric Sigman.

By the time they turn seven, children born today will have spent the equivalent of an entire year of their lives watching some form of small screen, he told an audience of doctors.

The effect could be long-term changes to children's brain circuitry similar to those in other forms of dependency, he said.

He also told the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health annual conference in Glasgow that parents need to "regain control" of their households.

He said: "Passive parenting' in the face of the new media environment is a form of benign neglect and not in the best interests of children. Parents must regain control of their own households."

It is estimated that teenagers now spend up to six hours a day in front of some form of small screen.

Children as young as 10 now have access to as many as five different screens at home, often watching two or more at a time, he said in a presentation to the conference and screen dependency.

But parents' behaviour can play a key role in determining how children will treat technology, he said.

Boys whose parents watch more than four hours a day of television are more than 10 times more likely to develop the same habit as those whose parents do not, he said.

He also singled out parents who maintain high levels of "eye-to-screen contact" at home warning that they are likely to instill similar behaviour in their children.