Children spend an average of 90 minutes watching TV, a survey indicated
Children
spend twice as much time watching TV than reading books, a survey suggests. It
reveals that many teachers believe youngsters' attention spans are shorter than
ever before, and that more need to be done to encourage reading for pleasure.
The survey, commissioned by education firm
Pearson to mark the launch of their Enjoy Reading campaign, found that parents
say their child spends 44 minutes a day on average reading, and 90 minutes
watching TV. They also spend 42 minutes on average playing on a computer and 28
minutes on the internet. It means that today's children spend three times as
long in front of TV and computer screens than reading, the survey claims.
The poll found that almost four in five
teachers (77%) say that on starting secondary school, pupils' attention spans
in classroom are shorter than in the past, and 97% said parents need to do more
to encourage their youngsters to read for pleasure at home. Half (49%) of the
parents surveyed said they read to their son or daughter every day, with 30%
saying they do so once a week or less.
Pearson president Rod Bristow said:
"Study after study has shown that reading for pleasure is a key indicator
of future success for children, but demands on children's attention and the
difficulty of inspiring reluctant readers mean many are missing out.”The Enjoy
Reading campaign is designed to support parents and schools to inspire children
of all abilities into reading."
The
poll questioned 2,008 parents of two- to 11-year-olds in August and 410 UK
secondary school English teachers in March and April.
Yahoo News
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