Kids on screens: Good, bad or the future of learning? - The Sunday Story
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's the debate of our time. How much is too much and what's the impact of screentime for children? With a proposed ban on social media for under 16s being debated in the UK, and children arriving at primary school swiping books like phones, we take a deep dive into the impact, and future, of screentime and AI in schools. Actress and campaigner Sophie Winkelman, a prominent voice of the dangers of increased screentime for children and Ben Gomes, Chief Technologist at Google, who is leading in the implementation of AI in schools, set out the arguments.
Guests:
- Sophie Winkleman, actress, campaigner and trustee of charity School-Home Support.
- Ben Gomes, Chief Technologist, Learning and Sustainability, Google.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Producer: Dave Creasey.
Clips: Times Radio.
Photo: Getty Images, Christopher L Proctor for the Sunday Times.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story on Sunday. |
| 0:07.8 | I'm Manvina. |
| 0:12.6 | It's becoming one of the great debates of our era. |
| 0:20.6 | How much tech should children be exposed to? |
| 0:24.8 | An annual survey of reception teachers has found that more than a quarter of children starting |
| 0:29.8 | school are unable to use books correctly. |
| 0:32.6 | Some even try to swipe them as if they were a tablet or phone. |
| 0:38.5 | More than half of the staff polled said excessive screen time was a key factor in not being ready for school. |
| 0:45.6 | This week, the government has been mooting the idea of introducing a ban on social media for under 16s. |
| 0:53.2 | But for most parents, the question is broader. |
| 0:57.7 | With many children now experiencing much of their education online, |
| 1:02.4 | is tech enabling children to flourish, or is it stymying their development? |
| 1:08.1 | Technology is a way to approach this problem, |
| 1:10.6 | but actually helps the student and enables |
| 1:13.6 | them to learn faster and more. Is ed tech stunting children's capacity to think deeply and be |
| 1:21.1 | creative, or is it opening up a whole new world of learning? How do you get the balance right and how do you help |
| 1:32.3 | children to prepare for the AI-driven world that's coming? It's a terrible way to learn. All the sort |
| 1:39.8 | of shiny futuristic stuff is just bollocks. |
| 1:52.9 | We'll hear from both sides, from the actress and campaigner Sophie Winkleman and Ben Goams, |
| 1:56.5 | one of the leading thinkers on tech and education at Google. |
| 1:59.8 | What is the right balance for children? |
| 2:02.4 | The story this Sunday. |
... |
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