{"id":6096,"date":"2017-06-21T08:26:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T22:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=6096"},"modified":"2017-06-21T09:41:36","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T23:41:36","slug":"young-children-owning-smartphones-is-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/young-children-owning-smartphones-is-the-new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Young children owning smartphones is the new normal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The latest Australian Child Health Poll<\/a> is out today, which provides a snapshot of what is happening in Australian homes right now when it comes to children\u2019s screen-based device use.<\/p>\n

The poll found that\u00a0almost all Australian teenagers, two- thirds of primary school-aged children and one-third of preschoolers owning their own tablet or smartphone. As well as owning their own device, many children also have their own social media accounts and are using these devices with a lack of supervision. Perhaps one of the most significant findings was that almost half of children regularly use their screen-based devices at bedtime, with one in four children reporting associated sleep problems.<\/p>\n

Led by Anthea Rhodes, she says these findings highlight the need for\u00a0updated national guidelines and resources to guide and support\u00a0parents, educators, health care providers\u00a0and communities\u00a0in\u00a0forming\u00a0healthy habits when it comes to screen and media use in children.<\/p>\n

Other key findings included:<\/p>\n