Young Children’s Screen Time
Debate between Jeremy Wright and Luke Charters(3 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Sir Jeremy Wright (in the Chair)
Before the hon. Gentleman replies, the hon. Lady is perfectly right that long-form content is better in some contexts, but not here.
Mr Charters
Thank you, Sir Jeremy. Briefly, my hon. Friend is a fantastic mum herself and an advocate for the great parents of Britain. Parents need advice about unsupervised screen time, particularly on smartphones, which is totally different from sitting down at a laptop doing homework. I will touch on adaptive technologies later.
Every time a child looks up and finds a parent looking down at a phone, a lesson is quietly taught about what deserves their attention. That truth was reinforced when I spoke to Zack George, known to many as Steel from “Gladiators” and now an ambassador for Smartphone Free Childhood. Zack’s message to young people is stark and powerful:
“Don’t let your phone steal your power.”
He has dedicated his life to inspiring kids and talked with thousands of schoolchildren in more than 400 school visits. Through his brand, Zactiv, he is sending a clear message to children: if you want to grow up happy and healthy, stop scrolling and keep it IRL.