We'd like you to think of how many hours you spend on the internet each day (don't worry, you don't have to share it with us!), and what you view while doing so. If you spend a lot of time using the internet, then you are far from the only one, research has shown that our screen time (including streaming shows on TV) as a population is increasing rapidly. This is partly due to the pandemic, where we didn't have as many options on what we could do, but is also a trend that is continuing now as things get back to normal.

So, what about our children and their screen time?

We asked our focus group of Newark pupils to tell us how many hours they spend on the internet each day. This was the response


As you can see, all of our group spends at least 3 hours online a day, with most spending more than that. 20% even spend 8 hours or more a day online. Needless to say, this is not unusual. We have found that this is common amongst children we spoke to across Inverclyde, and it ties in with the national statistics.

It raises the question; do you know what your children are viewing in this time?