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My Name Is...: My Name Is Roman

Roman: What's wrong with screen time?

My Name Is Roman

BBC Radio 4 - My Name Is..., My Name Is Roman

Roman is 11 and loves Minecraft - should his parents be so strict about screen time?

Roman is 11 and lives in Dorset with his mum Louisa, dad Ben and younger brother Raf. He loves Minecraft - and wants to know if his parents' new limits on his screen time are fair.

Eleven-year-old Roman is adjusting to a new three-day limit on his use of screens.
He's a huge fan of Minecraft and he also uses Tik Tok and You Tube.
Mum Louisa and dad Ben think during the pandemic there has been too much time spent on screens and they're trying to restore a balance - but what do the experts say?
Cambridge Research Fellow Dr Amy Orben and Professor Andrew Przybylski of the Oxford Internet Institute take Roman through research which suggests that there may not be a great deal of evidence to show that screens have a major impact on young people's happiness.
But the views of mum and dad are the ones that matter. They chart their reasons for wanting to bring more balance to the use of screens at home.
Sebastian Suggate shares his research with Roman - discussing the impact of media on young children's capacity for forming their own mental images.
Along the way Roman hears about the difficulty of age verification for sites like Tik Tok - but also that increasingly scientists wanting to study how screens affect us are kept in the dark by tech companies' reluctance to share data about how we use their platforms. The information our time on screens gives them is a valuable commodity - one which they're keen on protecting.

A Government spokesperson said: “Technology gives children and young people a wealth of information and increasing their social interactions. But spending too much time on devices can place children at risk because not all content and images are suitable for young audiences. We are working closely with industry to tackle online harms, and protect children and young people."

Presented by Roman 
Produced by Kevin Core

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