More than 150 clinicians have warned screen time in classrooms is fuelling a 'crisis' in pupils' speech and language development and must be cut down.
asserted
time → warn → development
The professionals, who include GPs, paediatricians, audiologists and speech therapists, said children are developing problems 'earlier and more severely than in previous years'.
asserted
children → include → years
In a letter to ministers, they also said there has been an increase in children with poor eyesight, which has been linked to screen time exposure.
asserted
which → say → exposure
And they said the Government needed to be 'alert' to the 'impact of the sustained rise in screen-based learning' on 'children's physical and developmental health'.
asserted
Government → say → health
The letter, sent to Education Secretary Lucy Powell and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper, said the use of tablets, laptops and interactive whiteboards 'exploded' during the pandemic and has 'never been rolled back'.
asserted
use → send → pandemic
It warns: 'A generation is being taught on devices and platforms that have never been subject to systematic, child‑focused testing for their cumulative impact on children's eyes, ears or speech, and we are the clinicians who will spend the rest of our careers treating the consequences.'
asserted
who → warn → consequences
The signatories include Dr Louise Milne, consultant paediatrician at Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust, and Dr Sanjiv Nichani, a senior consultant paediatrician and co-founder of the Children's Intensive Care Unit at Leicester Children's Hospital.
asserted
signatories → include → Hospital
They said around £900million a year is spent on education technology – known as EdTech – in English schools, but there are no official checks on how the products affect physical health.
asserted
products → say → health
More than 150 clinicians have warned screen time in classrooms is fuelling a 'crisis' in pupils' speech and language development and must be cut down (file picture)
Almost one million children are now using device-learning in every lesson at school, recent analysis suggests.
uncertain
analysis → warn → school
The letter adds: 'No drug, food product, or toy is given to millions of children without a single safety check.
asserted
drug → add → check
'Yet, astonishingly, education technology devices and platforms currently used by millions of pupils in schools and for homework every day of the week face no equivalent child-focused health scrutiny.
asserted
devices → use → scrutiny
'As a country, we need to wake up to this now, and start rolling back screen use in schools before the damage compounds further.'
asserted
damage → need → schools
They said they are 'especially concerned' about the use of one-to-one devices in early years education.
asserted
they → say → education
'Language acquisition depends on rich, responsive, face-to-face interaction that screens, however well designed, cannot replicate,' they wrote.
asserted
they → depend → that
'A three-year-old spending three hours a day on screen misses an estimated 194 conversational turns and 1,139 adult words daily.
asserted
old → spend → turns
These are losses that compound into hundreds of thousands over a year.
asserted
that → compound → year
The letter demands proper Government 'health checks' on products for schools, and new guidelines for safe daily screen exposure in schools.
asserted
letter → demand → schools
The professionals, which include GPs, paediatricians, audiologists and speech therapists, said children are developing problems 'earlier and more severely than in previous years'.
asserted
children → include → years
Pictured: shadow education secretary Laura Trott, who said there is an 'overuse of screens in schools'
asserted
who → picture → schools
Reacting to the letter, Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, said on X: 'Children are using screens for hours at a time at school, and it’s not good for them.
asserted
it → react → them
Labour were far too slow to wake up to the harms of social media and phones in schools.
asserted
Labour → wake → schools
'Now they are repeating the same mistake with overuse of screens in schools and for homework.
asserted
they → repeat → homework
We know what works: good teachers, textbooks and pens.'
asserted
what → know → teachers
Ministers introduced a mobile phone ban for schools in the summer, but devices used for learning are excluded.
asserted
devices → introduce → learning
Jane Rowland, from the campaign group SafeScreens, said: 'No other product is put in front of millions of children without a single safety check, yet screens now dominate the school day and follow children home in the evening.
asserted
screens → say → evening
We are gambling with the health and safety of millions of children, every single day.'
asserted
We → gamble → children
Dr Becky Foljambe, a GP and the founder of Health Professionals for Safer Screens, added: 'We can't keep prescribing glasses and speech therapy for a problem that schools are making worse.'
A government spokesman said: 'Used well, technology can be a powerful tool to support learners who need it and free up teachers to deliver the excellent education every child deserves.
asserted
child → add → education
'Evidence-gathering is vital to getting this right, and we're committed to working with teachers, leaders and parents to help them use technology most effectively as the evidence evolves.'
asserted
evidence → get → technology
The Aporia
