ONE in four children are spending as much as 12 hours a day sitting in front of a screen watching TV, playing video games or using Facebook.
The figures, based on a survey of 8,000 teenagers in Glasgow, also show that 13 per cent spend up to 16 hours a day looking at a computer or TV screen, with one in eight exceeding 16 hours. The findings exclude the amount of time spent using a computer for homework.
Fiona Moss, head of health improvement at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “It is a massive amount of screen time. Families may have a limit for internet or television time, but they don’t tend to think of screen time as a totality. I would say that, overall, this is a really positive report. Some of the (other) improvements are only 3 or 4 per cent better, but we’re talking about a big population. That is significant.”
She added: “Bike ownership and physical activity reduce as you go further up the school. We have to watch that screen time does not replace these activities.”
Are your children spending too much time "sitting in front of a screen" - and not participating in healthy physical pursuits?
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