Australian children are falling asleep on phones and use gadgets at the dinner table, Telstra study shows

A STUDY into Australian families’ use of technology shows children are using devices even as they fall asleep, and take their gadgets to the dinner table.

ALMOST two in every five Australian children fall asleep using a gadget, and one in five uses technology during meal times, according to research released today.

The Telstra study into family screen time also found most parents did not consider themselves to be good technological role models, and most children mirrored their bad screen habits.

The Cyber Safety: Balancing Screen Time study surveyed more than 1800 Australians, including 507 children aged between 12 and 17.

Telstra cyber safety manager Shelly Gorr said the survey indicated tech-savvy Australian households may have the balance of technology wrong, with parents leading the problem.

“We tended to see that if parents were spending more time on devices, their kids tended to do that too, be that second-screening, using a device as they fell asleep, or general device use during the day," she said.

Screen time addicts ... kids are taking their gadgets to the dinner table at mealtime.

“If your personal set of values are that you want a device-free dinner table, in the past you would just turn off the television. Now that’s been replaced by devices.”

The study found 39 per cent of children fell asleep at night while using a device, in addition to 17 per cent of parents, while 74 per cent of children used devices between 9pm and midnight on school nights, along with 62 per cent of parents.

Children were also heavy technology users at meal times, with 19 per cent admitting to using a device, while most children (71 per cent) said they used a device while in front of an even bigger screen: the television.

On the go ... schoolchildren with digital tablet and mobile phone at the breakfast table.

Disturbingly, 65 per cent of parents said they were not good role models for their children when it came to technology, and nine per cent of children said their parents’ use of technology took away from family time.

The findings come one week after a University of Western Australia study revealed it was “virtually impossible” for parents to enforce the official recommendations of just two hours of screen time for children over two years of age.

Ms Gorr said parents should not be afraid to use both high and low-tech options for rostering children’s use of technology as “it’s really important to bring that balance in screen time”.

“It’s important to talk to your kids and keep the conversation open,” she said. “You could set family rules, and turn off devices before bed time, powering down an hour before you go to bed to make sure kids aren’t texting under the covers.”

Australian family screen time

Fall asleep while using a device

Parents: 17%

Children: 39%

Using devices during meal times

Parents: 15%

Children: 19%

Using devices between 9pm and midnight on school nights

Parents: 62%

Children: 74%

Using a device in front of the TV

Parents: 66%

Children: 71%

Using a device in front of the TV between 7pm and 9pm on school nights

Parents: 50%

Children: 41%

Source: Telstra Cyber Safety: Balancing the Screen Time Survey 2015