Current status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 25 June 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what indicators it will use to assess the success of its public health approach to smartphone use among children and young people.
We are adopting a public health approach to online harm as an overarching approach to protecting children and young people from the risk of a spectrum of harm linked to the online world.
We understand the spectrum of harm can range from, among others, loss of concentration and wasted childhood time at one end, through disruption to education and the absorption of harmful often sexualised, misogynistic or violent content in the centre, to online bullying, incitement to self-harm and grooming at the extreme end. A public health approach allows us to respond appropriately to each of these risks and to adapt as the technology advances.
Ministers confirmation that we will introduce legislation to create phone free learning environments is an early policy and legal response to the spectrum of harms.
Ministers discussed this approach with members of our Online Safety Taskforce on 23 June and developments will be considered as this work progresses.
Another will be the development of a Public Health campaign which will develop the advice we have already published on our Parent Club website that recommends no screen time for babies and infants under 2 years, apart from communication (face time) with known adults. This is in line with World Health Organisation guidelines. The guidance also recommends that children aged 2-4 years should have no more than one hour of screen time per day.
To support our Screen use guidance we have also updated the Baby Box booklet to include information on the importance of early child development, speech, language and communication development, information supporting parental confidence to play and screen use advice. New information has been added to Parent Club providing guidance on managing screen use and also providing advice on how parents can also reduce their screen time.
Building on the comprehensive content currently included on Parent Club we will engage directly with parents and children and young people on what advice they need or want to support their positive digital behaviours. We will also undertake a review of research on the impact of digital media (including screen time and screen use i.e. content) on children and young people’s wellbeing to further inform the Scottish Governments position on children and young people’s positive digital behaviour.