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Over 150 doctors warn classroom screens are causing a 'crisis' in children's speech and eyesight

Lucy Powell, named in an open letter signed by more than 150 clinicians warning that English schools spend around £900 million a year on EdTech with no requirement to prove products are safe for children's health.
Lucy Powell, named in an open letter signed by more than 150 clinicians warning that English schools spend around £900 million a year on EdTech with no requirement to prove products are safe for children's health.
Close to one million children now spend almost every lesson on screens, the clinicians warn, while speech and language difficulties affect more than two million children across the UK.
Close to one million children now spend almost every lesson on screens, the clinicians warn, while speech and language difficulties affect more than two million children across the UK.

More than 150 clinicians have written to Education Secretary Lucy Powell and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper demanding an urgent cut in classroom screen time, warning that nearly one million children already spend almost every lesson on a device. The open letter, signed by GPs, ophthalmologists, paediatricians and speech therapists, calls the absence of any health scrutiny of EdTech a "serious safeguarding concern" — and says schools are spending £900 million a year on technology that has never been required to prove it is safe for children.

Childhood myopia rates in the UK have more than doubled since the 1960s, and global rates have soared from 24% in 1990 to nearly 36% by 2023.

Each day a three-year-old logs three hours of screen time, that child loses an estimated 194 conversational turns and 1,139 words of adult speech, the clinicians warn.

Children are already being fitted with glasses, hearing aids and referred for speech therapy, the clinicians say, 'for a problem that is unintentionally being made worse in our schools'.

MoreDaily MailScreen time in schools damages children's speech and sight - doctorsThe IndependentScreens at schools fuelling child health ‘crisis’, doctors warnbbc.co.ukCut screen time in classrooms to avoid long-term health issues, government urgedFemale FirstDoctors warn classroom screens are harming children's sight and speech - Female FirstThe Times‘Giving our pupils access to screens? It’s like giving wine to an alcoholic’
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