MELBOURNE, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian children are spending more time than ever looking at computer, TV and mobile phone screens, a study has found.
The study revealed that Australian children aged 10 to 13 are spending more than three hours every weekday looking at screens with four- and five-year-olds also looking at screens for 2.2 hours every day.
Time spent using screens grows on the weekend, with 10 to 13 year olds averaging up to 4.3 hours with screens and three- and four-year-olds up to 2.5 hours each day.
The 4.3 hours trails the American average of 4.5 hours for the same age group on weekends, but still far exceeds the recommended maximum of two hours per day.
The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) run by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), which is headquartered in Melbourne, monitored 4,000 children for 12 years and released their findings on Tuesday.
Ben Edwards, manager of LSAC, said most concerning was that most of the screen time was spent passively watching television or video, or watching video that they don't have a particular interest in.
"What we're seeing is that it's really hard for parents to manage that," Edwards told the ABC on Tuesday.
"I've got kids myself and I know how hard it is to get them off screens, part of it is setting up an environment that enables better control of the screen time."
The study identified the increase of screens in public spaces, schools and homes as the primary reason for the rise in screen hours.
Edwards said providing plenty of extra-curricular activities for children, setting strict limits and banning screens from the bedroom were the best methods to keep exposure down.
The study also found that active children, identified as "high energy," logged considerably fewer hours looking at screens.
"We know there's a childhood obesity epidemic, and in part that's because of high rates of sedentary activity," Edwards said.
