It is frustrating to see a lack of understanding of the pressures that modern parents are under from readers such as Janice White, who laments seeing parents who are not engaged with their screen‑prodding children in public and draws the conclusion that it is such unengaged parenting that causes the outcomes raised by the Kindred2 school readiness survey (Letters, 10 March).
As a mother to a four-year-old and a technology ethicist, I fully understand the concerns around screen time and the complex context in which the 2023 cohort has started school: a lack of access to health visitors, the locking up of playgrounds and other socialising play areas during Covid; the lack of affordable childcare but rising cost of living meaning that any socialising childcare, preschool or playgroup takes away income and/or time from one parent; and the dire state of austerity-hit child services.
