November 2025 - Magazine - Page 58
Mi n i str i es
OUT of TIME
Kate warns too much screen time
damages family life
The Princess of Wales has warned that an overload of smartphones and computer
screens is creating an "epidemic of disconnection" that disrupts family life.
"While digital devices promise to keep us connected, they frequently do the opposite,"
writes Catherine, in an essay written in collaboration with Prof Robert Waldinger from
Harvard Medical School.
Catherine says smartphones and gadgets have become a "constant distraction, frag-
menting our focus" and undermining the time that families spend together.
"We're physically present but mentally absent, unable to fully engage with the people
right in front of us," writes the princess, in an essay that's part of her early years education campaign.
The princess says that research evidence shows the importance of creating healthy
and warm relationships within families and between people, with lifelong benefits for
physical and mental health.
But she warns, in an essay The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World, that
social trends are going in the opposite direction and that there are more lonely, isolat-
ed people and that families are not giving each other adequate attention.
"When we check our phones during conversations, scroll through social media during
Sean Coughlan
