The Guardian – Sally Weale
“Teenagers who spend hours on screens during their free time, either watching TV, playing computer games or surfing the internet, appear to achieve lower grades at GCSE, according to a study published on Friday. Research from Cambridge University suggests that 14-year-olds who spend an hour a day on screens during their leisure time score nine fewer points at GCSE when the sum of their grades is calculated – the equivalent of dropping two grades from a B to a D. Two extra hours results in 18 fewer points at GCSE. The length of time children spend watching screens is frequently a battleground in families, with parents increasingly powerless to control their children’s viewing – which has moved beyond TVs and computers, on to smart phones and iPads.”(more)