As UK children head back to school, research from Zen Internet highlights how parental control has shifted for a digital generation. Gone are the days when being sent to your room or grounded was the ultimate deterrent. For today’s Gen Alpha and Z, nothing hits harder than losing access to their devices or the internet.

The research reveals that 35 per cent of parents confiscate phones, 32 per cent remove games consoles or computers, and 31 per cent even switch off the WiFi as ways to discipline their children.

While traditional punishments still linger with 32 per cent of parents sending their children to bed early and 28 per cent grounding them, the data shows that for modern families, restricting access to technology has firmly overtaken the ‘naughty step’ or ‘time-out’ methods of pre-internet days.

This reflects the scale of children’s reliance on screens. In the study of 2,000 parents with children over the age of five living at home, 72 per cent of children spend more than two hours online every single day, with the majority using the internet for gaming (61 per cent), streaming (60 per cent) and schoolwork (55 per cent). Unsurprisingly, over half of parents (55 per cent) admit to enforcing limits to how long children go on the internet for, while nearly a third (32 per cent) believe their child is addicted to online services.

• Only a quarter of children aged 5+ spend less than an hour online every single day

• 31 per cent are online 4+ hours daily (two-thirds of a school day)

• 41 per cent of children spend 2-3 hours per day using the internet according to parents

The research comes as online safety moves back onto the national agenda. Recent changes to the UK’s Online Safety Act, which came into force this summer, have introduced mandatory age verification on adult websites and strengthened Ofcom’s oversight of platforms used by young people. Early figures show traffic to adult sites is down, but many children are already finding workarounds through VPNs underlining why parents remain on the frontline of keeping their children safe online.

“Technology has become both the cornerstone of modern childhood and the ultimate bargaining chip for parents,” said Stephen Warburton, Managing Director for Zen Internet’s consumer division, which commissioned the national study. “The Online Safety Act is an important step, but no piece of legislation can replace guidance at home as well. For families, it’s about setting boundaries, whether that’s limiting screen time, using filters, or simply having open conversations. For this generation, taking away tech is the twenty-first century equivalent of the naughty step.”

As children return to classrooms this autumn, parents face the dual challenge of supporting digital learning while managing online distractions. The rules of the game may have changed, but when it comes to shaping children’s online experiences, family discipline plays a key role.