With kids stuck at home for much of the past year, many have been spending more and more time looking at screens, and while some parents have been okay with that, now they are growing concerned about the lasting effects all this screen time is going have on their children.
A new survey finds:
- 81% of moms and dads are concerned that the past year has had a lasting effect on their kids’ social development.
- 42% believe the pandemic has had a negative affect on their children’s social development.
- 64% worry that that all that extra screen time will impact their social development.
- The social skills they are most concerned about include:
- Making friends in new settings (39%)
- Conflict resolution (27%)
- Sharing (26%)
- Playing by the rules in groups (25%)
- Empathy for others (23%)
- Team Building (21%)
- Parents’ worries over extra screen time has forced many to try and get their kids off their devices.
- The average parent will ask their kids seven times each week to put down their tech and do something more mentally stimulating.
- 63% of parents have put limits on the amount of time their kid can be on a device.
- The average parent will limit their kids to four hours a day.
- The biggest reasons for imposing such time limits include
- Wanting them to do more physical activity (70%)
- Wanting them to spend more quality time with family (60%)
- Wanting them to use their time more creatively (45%)
Source: SWNS Digital