Screen time ‘rewiring our brains’
Tech Life
BBC
4.3 • 227 Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We dig through the evidence on the effect of screen time on babies and young children, with the help of some parents and experts. And after hearing our story of a woman who got her voice back with the help of AI, a listener got in touch to tell us his own moving story of hearing his father’s voice for the first time in 50 years.
Producers: Imran Rahman-Jones and Vuyelo Ndlovu Presenter: Shiona McCallum
(Image: A baby holds a smartphone, looking at the screen while lying in bed. Credit: Getty Images.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | An early start here. It's time to kick off. |
| 0:10.0 | Your day. Morning! |
| 0:11.9 | What a line-up. |
| 0:13.3 | Oh, thanks very much. We do get some great guests on the show. |
| 0:16.1 | The crowd is loving this. |
| 0:18.3 | Thanks, guys. Thank you. Too kind. |
| 0:20.2 | From morning chaos to match day commentary. |
| 0:23.6 | And everything in between. |
| 0:25.0 | BBC sounds packed with personality. |
| 0:28.8 | Welcome to TechLife on the BBC World Service with me, Shona McCallum. |
| 0:34.6 | I'm constantly worrying whether having too much time on screens or limiting their time on the screens just to get them to do something else? Sometimes can be a bit of an issue because it's what their friends and stuff are doing as well. That's a parent we spoke to about her child's relationship with digital devices because today we're looking at screen time and young ones. More of that |
| 0:55.8 | in a moment. And a few weeks ago we spoke to a woman called Avon who had lost her voice to motor |
| 1:01.6 | neuron disease about how AI had helped her speak again. That prompted listener Robb to get in touch |
| 1:07.8 | with his own story of using AI to help hear his father's voice for the first |
| 1:12.4 | time in 50 years. |
| 1:14.3 | Playing those to my mother, who is in quite an advanced state of dementia now, every now and |
| 1:22.0 | then with very old memories, you get a flicker in her eye which tells you everything. |
| 1:28.7 | And it was very moving. Right, this week on TechLife, we're taking a deep dive into screen time. |
| 2:00.4 | How much time do you spend on screens each day? |
| 2:04.0 | I'll go full disclosure here. |
| 2:06.1 | According to my phone stats, I'm averaging between three and four hours a day. |
... |
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