UK children have seen a dramatic decline in play say experts

According to a panel of experts, children in the UK are ‘sedentary, scrolling and alone.’ The Raising the Nation Play Commission report is calling for a new strategy involving £125 million in funding.

A crisis could be looming for children in the UK, at least according to a panel of experts.

Researchers spent over a year examining the play and childhoods of young people as part of the Raising the Nation Play Commission’s latest report. They concluded that children were living ‘sedentary, scrolling and alone,’ with several recommendations made to help curb the issue.

These include raising the digital age of consent to 16, a ban on ‘no ball games’ signs, re-introducing play to the education system and making it mandatory for development planners to include recreational spaces for children.

The commission says these initiatives would need £125 million in funding from the government.

Two leading experts for the report, Paul Lindley and Anne Longfield, argue that a lack of space for children to play is damaging development, independence and connection with other children.

19 experts were consulted as part of the study, including both doctors and play campaigners. Evidence was collected from interviewing children, parents and professionals.

A key argument within the report is that screen time is having a huge detrimental impact on young people. Gen Z in particular are spending huge amounts of their day looking at screens, with this behaviour trickling down to even younger school children.

The commission has argued that this is the result of both the addictive nature of social media and the lack of real-life alternative spaces to play and interact.

Streets are dominated by traffic, youth clubs have shut down across the country over the past decade, and neighbourhoods are not being adequately funded to provide playgrounds and parks, the experts argue.

As The Guardian reports, children involved in the study were also asked about how they felt toward play. One panellist said, ‘there’s not much to do and the things that are cost a lot of money.’