How Can We Stop Kids Becoming Screen Addicts?

As experts warn of a tech addiction crisis among kids, one mum reveals how her nine-year-old daughter became hooked and ended up in rehab

- Andrew Hartley

Carol* was always wary of letting her children spend hours in front of a screen. But when her daughter Freya* passed her ballet exam, she agreed to buy her an Xbox as a reward. “I remember saying to my husband Richard* that she deserved some downtime after working so hard at school and at her hobbies,” says Carol, 39.

But what started as harmless play on Minecraft and Lego games turned into a full-blown obsession with cult hit Fortnite – which saw Freya, nine, secretly staying up until dawn, becoming the youngest child to go into rehab for technology addiction in the UK.

OBSESSION

Worryingly, with millions of children still on their summer break, Carol, from Lancashire, says her daughter’s issues took hold during school holidays. She says, “Without us knowing, she binged on the game. We didn’t mind that she woke up after 11am – we just assumed she needed the rest. It’s frightening to look back and realise how negligent we were. These games are designed to be addictive, to suck kids in so they lose track of time, and with weeks of nothing to do, that’s what happens.”

Statistics paint a frightening picture. By the age of just seven, UK children will on average have spent an entire year of their lives looking at TV, computer and game console screens. By 13, it will be three whole years. Gaming addicts as young as 12 can now seek treatment on the NHS as the condition has recently been classified as a mental health problem.

And while Mumsnet last week made headlines following posts from frustrated parents struggling to get their children off technology in the holidays, a recent survey of 1,000 British mothers of children aged two to 12 found 85 per cent of mums admitted to using technology to keep their kids occupied while they got on with other activities.