Experts warn parents are risking their children's physical and mental well-being by allowing so much screen time and interaction with online activities. (File picture) Source: News Limited TECH-savvy kids now spend more time online or watching TV than they do at school and should be put on a "media diet'' of two hours a day, paediatricians warned.
Doctors have been advised to start grilling parents about their kids' online habits to prevent obesity, bullying and sexual problems.
Australian paediatricians are backing new guidance issued by the American Academy of Paediatrics, which urges parents to impose a "curfew'' for smartphones, and discourage babies and toddlers from watching any TV.
Australian Medical Association president Steve Hambleton said children were growing obese because they spend too much time sitting in front of screens.
Experts say very young children shouldn't watch TV at all, and others need to be put on media diets along with things like smartphone or device curfews. (File picture) He also warned that kids were watching pornography and violence on smart phones.
"It's disturbing normal sexual development,'' he told News Corp.
"Girls feel they have to act like porn actors and boys think they want to be treated that way.''
Dr Hambleton urged parents to ban TVs and the internet from kids' bedrooms.
The new US guide says the average 8 to 10-year-old spends nearly eight hours a day with media, while teenagers spent up to 11 hours a day online or watching TV.
"Young people now spend more time with media than they do in school,'' it says.
"It is the leading activity for children and teenagers other than sleeping.''
The guide advises GPs to ask parents during kids' health check-ups about how much time their children spend in front of screens, and whether they have a TV, computer, tablet or smart phone in their rooms.
And it suggests kids be placed on a "media diet'' of two hours a day.
The lead author of the American guide, Professor Victor Strasburger, said children should not be allowed to watch the internet alone in their rooms.
He said he could guarantee that if a 14-year-old boy had internet access in his room, "he is looking at pornography''.
"Keep technology out of the bedroom,'' Professor Strasburger told News Corp from New Mexico.
"You cannot control what kids are seeing or how much time they spend online if they are wired in their bedrooms.
"When I was growing up, 'Go to your room' was a punishment but now it's a technological vacation.''
Professor Strasburger said he was concerned about the impact of online porn on teenagers' sexual development.
"Forty years ago the worst thing a 14-year-old could get into was Playboy magazine,'' he said.
"But sex online differs from a magazine, and we do such a poor job of sex education at home and in school that media has filled the gap.''
Professor Strasburger, a US adolescent medicine expert who has worked at the Sydney Children's Hospital, said babies and toddlers exposed to television before the age of two were slower to start speaking.
"They can learn from you as a person, but not from a person on the TV screen,'' he said.
The Paediatric and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians yesterday backed the new US advice.
Its president-elect, Dr Nicki Murdock, said children were using smart phones to bully other kids, take videos of other children or themselves, and watch pornography.
"Children don't realise they're opening themselves up to regret and threat,'' she said.
"Pornography and inappropriate content is freely available on the internet and some parents are not tech-savvy to block the child's access.
"And when children are using computers or watching TV it means they are not going outside running around and riding their bikes.''
Dr Murdock agreed it would be a "good idea'' for doctors to ask parents about their children's media use during health checks.
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