The Telegraph – 20 January 2016 – ‘Telegraph – How to unplug your iPad-addicted child’
Rare is the modern parent who hasn’t complained that their child is ‘addicted’ to screens. For most of us, it’s a throwaway comment stemming from irritation with a teenager’s incessant messaging, or a toddler having an ‘i-Paddy’ when the tablet has to be powered down and put away.
But evidence is mounting that children’s acute dependence on gadgets could become as damaging to their physical and mental health as recognised addictions to drink, drugs or gambling.
Yesterday, a British Heart Foundation (BHF) study of government data warned just one in 10 of the ‘iPad generation’ of toddlers is active enough to be healthy. Now so many frazzled parents use screens as a “dummy” to pacify their children, the majority of two year-olds don’t even manage one hour a day on the move, let alone run themselves ragged. No need to spell out the damage this will do to future generations’ wellbeing.
Private options for help include Nightingale Hospital in London which runs a Technology Addiction programme and has seen patients from the age of 10 – although they are currently dealing with schools with concerns about pupils as young as eight.
Full article available here.
