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Limit kids' 'screen time'

Parents need to do more to stop children spending too much time watching television or playing computer games, according to a psychologist.

Dr Aric Sigman said "screen time" needed to have a daily limit in a similar vein to salt or alcohol intake.

He called for parents to "regain control" or they were risking a "form of benign neglect".

Brain scans have shown differences between the brains of gamers and non-gamers. However, it is not known if playing games change the brain or if people with certain brain structures are driven to play games.

Sigman told the BBC that "there are concerns that it alters the reward circuitry in the brain" which may lead to "dependence".

"Whether children or adults are formally 'addicted' to screen technology or not, many of them overuse technology and have developed an unhealthy dependency on it."

He is arguing that children up to the age of three should have little or no screen time. Then a maximum of an hour-and-a-half up to the age of seven, and a maximum of two hours up to the age of 18.

Sigman will speak at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health's annual conference in Glasgow later.

He will argue that the amount of time spent in front of screens is at an all-time high -- with children having access to an average of five screens in the home and often using more than one at once, such as a smartphone and the television.

This is linked to a sedentary lifestyle, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, he will say.

He will also raise concerns that it might be changing children's brains as they develop.

Source: The Daily Star