‘No Ball Games’ signs should be banned to encourage children to stop ‘doomscrolling’ on mobile phones as outdoor play has halved in a generation, the Government has been urged.
A new inquiry calls for smartphones to be banned in schools as part of a national strategy to get young people outdoors and ‘disrupt the addictive grip of digital devices on children’s lives’.
Time spent playing outside has declined by 50 per cent in a generation and children now travel shorter and shorter distances independently, the research found.
More than half of parents believe their youngest child plays outside less than they did and 75 per cent agree that society is less accepting of children playing out than when they were children.
Cuts to clubs and playgrounds, busier roads and increased fears among parents and children about safety have left children with fewer places to play, the Raising the Nation Play Commission found.
