Overview

• The essay, written with Harvard psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, urges parents to prioritize in-person connection over constant scrolling and notifications.
• Waldinger acknowledged his own phone habits and said giving up devices is unrealistic, recommending clear guardrails to protect family time.
• New reporting outlines conflicting research: a UK Education Committee links heavy recreational screen use to poorer cognitive outcomes, while large studies, including NIHR summaries and Oxford-linked work, find no clear causal harm.
• Guidance highlighted in coverage points to minimal or no screen time for very young children under WHO and NHS recommendations, alongside growing school phone bans and calls for more research.
• The intervention drew wide reaction, with commentator Jennie Bond calling it a major campaign for Kate, as Prince Harry and Meghan separately pressed concerns about online harms, and William was reported to withhold smartphones from his children.