Children spend average of three hours on screen- NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission has said that the average Nigerian child spends an average of three to 10 hours per day in front of a screen.

The Commission disclosed this in its ‘Study on young children and digital technology: A survey across Nigeria’.

The NCC said, “Children across the two age spectrums spend an inordinate length of time engaged with digital technology each day.

“Through watching television, playing video games or surfing the Internet, the Nigerian child on average can amass screen time for length of up to three hours per day.

“In extreme cases, some children clock up to 10 hours or more screen time per day verging on addiction disorder.

“The problem of technology addiction disorder is rampant among children as they are the group most prone to uncontrolled video game playing or social media use.

“The 2020 Child Online Safety Index report submits higher levels of disordered use of technology among children in Nigeria, placing her 6th from the bottom of the list of 30 peer countries.

The rating is based on four indices- the severity of gaming disorder symptoms, the percentage of children at risk of gaming disorder, the severity of social media disorder symptoms and the percentage of children at risk for social media disorder disorder”.

The NCC said it surveyed children between four and 10 and 11 and 16 years old.

The Commission said digital technology addictions manifested in different forms including excessive viewing of video clips, compulsive video game playing and uncontrolled browsing and chatting non social media.

It added that its survey uncovered that 85 per cent of the urban children aged 11-16 browse and chat on social networking sites everyday while only 20 per cent of rural children the same age did the same.

According to the commission, 93 per cent of 11 to 16 year olds and 45 per cent of 4 to 10 year olds go online with their mobile phones.