NDM: why British children aren't sleeping

Why British children aren't sleeping

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/04/go-school-two-half-hours-sleep-british-children-arent-sleeping

Summary:

The article goes in to detail for the reasons why children are generally too tired. The main concept behind the decrease in sleep, is due to the new and digital media products that have developed over the recent years. Children own their own tablets, and even their own phones which are all hand held and small devices. They can simply do whatever they want while in bed without parents noticing, and the devices are small enough to fit under a pillow, out of sight of the parent.

Statistics: 

•  five-year-olds should get around 11 hours a night, 10-year-olds around 10 hours, and 15-year-olds nine hours
• hospital attendances for children under 14 with sleep disorders have tripled over the past 10 years
• according to a recent survey by consultancy Censuswide, over 80% of children in the UK now have their own phone by the age of 12
• By 10, 58% have their own tablet, and two-thirds of teenagers say they use these devices in the hour before bedtime

Own view:

The article does give a valid point in terms of new and digital media taking over many of peoples time and the most important thing; sleep. Before a child goes to sleep, they will tend to watch a video, and then another which will escalate to hours of times procrastinating to go to sleep. Furthermore, the idea of giving primary school aged children phones and tablets is just a ticket to instigating matters further, as they will concentrate more on the device and spend more time on them rather than what actually matters.