The Impact of Screen Time on Children
The Princess of Wales recently warned that smartphones and computer screens are causing "an epidemic of separation" within families. In an essay, she wrote that the current generation may be more connected than any other in history, but at the same time, more isolated, lonelier, and less able to form meaningful relationships.
The Debate Over Screen Time
The evidence on whether screen time is actually harmful to children is conflicting. While some researchers link screen time to negative effects on children, there is no irrefutable evidence that screen time causes these effects. Concerns center on findings that the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people have declined in recent years.
The Effects of Screen Time on Children’s Mental Health
Data from NHS Digital shows that 18% of 7-16 year olds were likely to have a mental health disorder in 2022, compared to 9.7% in 1999. A 2025 study from the University of Manchester found that social media and smartphone use may be one of the drivers of this decline. The Education Committee’s report on the impact of screen time on children’s education and well-being pointed out that smartphones and computers interfere with student learning both at home and in the classroom.
The Potential Risks of Excessive Screen Time
Research suggests that children who spent more than two hours a day on their smartphones and playing video games had poorer working memory, processing speed, attention levels, language skills, and executive functions than those who did not. The committee urged the government to advise parents of babies to pay sufficient attention to face-to-face interaction and to warn of the risks that screen time poses.
The Importance of Face-to-Face Interaction
Carlota Nelson, author and director of Brain Matters, wrote that screen time affects young children’s ability to read faces and learn social skills, two key factors necessary for the development of empathy. It is only through face-to-face interactions that young children learn to understand and interpret nonverbal cues. Exposure to screens reduces babies’ ability to read human emotions and control their frustration.
The Potential Benefits of Screen Time
The National Institute for Health and Care Research found little evidence that spending more time on social media was linked to more mental health problems among young people. Another study found no evidence that screen time affects children’s brain function or well-being. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children notes that screen time can be beneficial for children by helping them build communities online and maintain friendships through social media or online games.
Guidelines for Healthy Screen Time
The World Health Organization recommends that babies under one year old should not spend any time in front of screens, while one-year-olds should not have sedentary screen time. Children age two should spend no more than an hour per day in sedentary screen time. The NHS advises older children not to sit in front of a screen for more than two hours a day. The Education Committee suggests that screen time should be minimal for younger children and better balanced with face-to-face socialization and physical activity for older children.
Conclusion
While there is no definitive answer as to whether screen time is harmful to children, the government encourages and supports further research in this area. A feasibility study on methods and data to understand the impact of smartphones and social media on children’s well-being is currently being conducted by the University of Cambridge. The central question of the research is which methods are most effective for determining the causal impact of social media and smartphones on the developmental outcomes of children.
