Most children spend a lot of time on their phones, while their parents struggle to figure out ways to get them off their screens. A recent Harris Poll asked some children what it would take to get them off their phones.
The Harris Poll asked approximately 500 children between the ages of 8 and 12: “How would you rather spend time with friends?”
There were three choices: free play (in person), an organized activity like Little League or ballet or online multiplayer games, like Roblox.
The answer? Forty-five percent of the kids said they’d rather get together to play, without screens or supervision, 30% would prefer to take part in the adult-organized activity, and 25% would choose to hang with friends by playing online games.
The poll was included in an article in The Atlantic, written by three researchers — Lenore Skenazy, Zach Rausch and Jonathan Haidt — who believe the generation of children raised on screens is being deprived of the “free play” benefits of exploration, independence and self-sufficiency.
According to the authors, since the 1980s, parents have grown increasingly afraid that unsupervised time will expose their children to physical or emotional harm.
They cite another Harris Poll that asked parents what would happen if two 10-year-olds played in a park, without adults nearby. Sixty percent thought the children would get injured, half thought they would likely get abducted.
The authors said a network of parents in California has agreed to drop their children at a park every Friday, for unsupervised play. Libraries, churches and schools are organizing and hosting screen-free “play clubs.”
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