Children spend longer watching TV than in school

A child born today will have spent a full year looking at TV screens or computer monitors by the time they reach the age of seven, studies show.

This addiction is having an adverse effect on their health, said the psychologist Aric Sigman. The average 10-year-old has at least five screens to watch at home and children spend more time watching TV than they do in school, he added.

Writing in the Archives Of Disease In Childhood, Dr Sigman said many parents used the devices as "electronic babysitters", with screens creating a "three-parent family".