Parents advised on screen time

With screen and gaming dependency a hot topic in the news, St Andrew’s Prep invited Dr Aric Sigman, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and regular television documentary writer and presenter on children’s health, to address to pupils, parents and staff this week.

Dr Sigman spoke about research which has confirmed that overuse of recreational electronic gadgets could affect school performance, physical and mental health together with social skills and relationships.

Dr Sigman warned parents they should be aware of the influence their own screen usage could have on their sons and daughters and suggested that children should have access to, on average, no more than two hours maximum recreational screen media a day.

He said if controls were not put in place, it is possible that some children of today could spend up to a quarter of their lives in front of screens. Dr Sigman advocated no screens should be allowed in children’s bedrooms and at least a half hour gap to be set between screen usage and bed time.

Pupils were interested to hear that screen time can result in up to two hours longer spent on homework because of the distractions.

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