The viral headline about UK children “swiping books like phones” is funny for about three seconds. Then you read the data.
The Kindred Squared–Savanta School Readiness Survey (2024) does not describe one odd habit, but a generation arriving at school missing a cluster of basic skills, toileting, listening, sitting still, holding pencils, sharing toys, and turning pages. This isn’t nostalgia talking. Its teachers, numbers, and classrooms stretched thin.
In a country where toddlers can unlock smartphones but struggle to put on a coat, the question isn’t whether technology is bad. It’s whether adulthood quietly outsourced early childhood to screens, and called it “modern parenting”.
What The Study Actually Measured
The Kindred Squared survey, conducted by Savanta in late 2024, questioned over 1,000 primary school teachers and a similar number of parents of Reception-aged children. Its aim was simple: assess “school readiness”, the skills children are expected to have before formal schooling begins.
Teachers reported that around one-third of children were not school-ready, and the issues were consistent across regions. This wasn’t about academic gaps. It was about fundamentals, the invisible skills that make classrooms work.
Teachers also estimated losing 2.4 hours of teaching time every day, dealing with these readiness gaps. That number alone should have triggered a policy debate. Instead, it became a meme about swiping books.
When Independence Disappeared
According to the survey, 24% of children were not toilet-trained when starting school. Many struggled with dressing themselves, using cutlery, or washing and drying their hands independently. These are not optional “extra” skills; they are basic self-management abilities that classrooms assume are already in place.
Here’s the uncomfortable part: many parents didn’t think these skills were their responsibility. The study shows a sharp perception gap, while teachers listed toileting and dressing as essential, a significant portion of parents did not. Somewhere along the way, independence got reframed as pressure, and adults lowered expectations instead of raising support.
Fine Motor Skills
Teachers reported widespread difficulty with pencil grip, crayon control, scissor use, and mark-making. Children struggled to draw shapes, trace letters, or apply pressure consistently, all core pre-writing skills.
This is where the tech critique becomes unavoidable. Touchscreens demand almost no resistance, grip variation, or bilateral coordination. Swiping is effortless. Writing is not. When early play shifts from blocks, crayons, and paper to glass screens, children miss the daily micro-practice of hand strength and control. The body learns what it repeats, and smooth screens don’t teach muscles how to work.
Classrooms Aren’t Algorithms
The data here is stark. Teachers reported:
- 36% of children don’t respond to simple instructions
- 44% struggle to sit still
- 35% find it hard to share or take turns
These are not behavioural “choices”; they are learned capacities. Classrooms are collective spaces, not personalised feeds. There is no pause button when 29 children need to listen together. When attention is shaped by fast, individualised digital content, group learning becomes harder, not because children are “bad”, but because environments change faster than expectations.
Also Read: Do Mobile Phones Really Cause Brain Cancer Or Not?
Myth Of The “Digital Native”
Yes, some children try to swipe books. But the deeper issue is weakened book familiarity altogether, not knowing how pages work, how stories flow, or how print stays still. Combined with broader literacy trends, this is alarming.
The National Literacy Trust found that only about one in three children now enjoys reading, the lowest level recorded in two decades. Yet we keep repeating the myth that children are “digital natives” who will somehow absorb literacy through screens. The data says otherwise: literacy grows through interaction, repetition, boredom, and shared attention; all things screens are excellent at replacing, not building.
Adults, Systems And Policy Silence
Teachers in the study overwhelmingly blamed excessive screen exposure, lack of early support services, and shrinking health visitor contact. 83% said the cost-of-living crisis will worsen readiness problems long-term. Parents, meanwhile, overwhelmingly said they wanted clearer national guidance, meaning confusion, not negligence, is often the issue.
And yet, there is no strong national framework spelling out what “school-ready” actually means in practical terms. No sustained public campaign. No serious reckoning with how early childhood has been reshaped by convenience technology. We regulate toys more strictly than attention economies, and then act surprised when children struggle to focus.
It’s A Design Problem
Children are not broken. Childhood has been redesigned. The Kindred Squared study doesn’t reveal lazy kids or careless parents; it exposes a system that quietly replaced shared routines with screens, independence with accommodation, and guidance with guesswork.
When turning a page becomes a headline, it’s tempting to laugh. But the real story is more serious: basic skills are now points of contention because the adult world stopped protecting them. If we want classrooms that teach rather than triage, the fix is not less technology being present again.
Teaching a child to turn a page is not old-fashioned. It’s fundamental. And no app can swipe its way past that.
Images: Google Images
Sources: NDTV, The Economic Times, Hindustan Times
Find the blogger: Katyayani Joshi
This post is tagged under: early childhood education, school readiness crisis, children and technology, screen time debate, digital childhood, education crisis UK, primary education, early years learning, parenting and screens, literacy decline, reading crisis, attention economy, childhood development, education policy, teachers speak out, modern parenting, tech and kids, social impact of technology, learning in the digital age, education inequality, public policy failure, classroom realities, childhood skills, future of education, media literacy
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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