Excess Screen Time is Top Health Concern for Australian Parents

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I’ve been reading a couple of research studies lately on health concerns for parents and nature engagement statistics for Australia and they seem to go hand in hand.

Excessive screen time was the number one health concern for parents of children aged 6 to 17 in a health poll released by the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne this month. The poll highlights the major health concerns parents have for their children and children in the wider community. This is not surprising as a recent study by Planet Ark found that for every hour of leisure time spent outside, Australians spend on average, 7 hours watching television or surfing the internet. In their Outdoor Lifestyle Survey, parents reported that 1 in 4 children under the age of 16 spend less than 2 hours of their spare time playing in natural outdoor environments each week.

So how did excessive screen time become such a reality and concern for parents of modern children? I think that firstly, many parents feel unsafe allowing children to play outside. According to Planet Ark, 77% of respondents were concerned about shrinking backyards. The loss of backyard space and local parks and bushland is one factor in parents not feeling that their children have safe outdoor space to play. Many parents have also told us they find work and time pressure major barriers to spending more time outdoors with their family. The Planet Ark study showed that adults are also struggling to model outdoor recreation, with 1 in 3 people (aged 14-64) spending less than 18 minutes per day engaged in outdoor activities.

We love the feedback we get from our KIN Village school holiday program, especially when it shares how we have supported children to spend a whole day outdoors without screens.

Trudi Bennett

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“Thanks so much for providing this opportunity to our kids – I did stuff like this all the time as a kid but the ability and opportunity (as in places to go and be free to play with sticks and dead blowies and whatever else took our fancy) for our kids to do it seems to have shrunk considerably over the years. I can tell you that my kids, who came yesterday to the KIN Village at Crawley had an absolute blast and were asking to come again today. Sadly I had already made other plans, but they will be right back with you at the first opportunity next school holidays.“

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