{"id":421875,"date":"2026-02-12T14:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/421875\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:04:07","slug":"childrens-vocabulary-shrinking-as-reading-loses-out-to-screen-time-says-susie-dent-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/421875\/","title":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s vocabulary shrinking as reading loses out to screen time, says Susie Dent | Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Children\u2019s vocabulary is shrinking as reading loses out to screen time, according to the lexicographer Susie Dent, who is urging families to read, talk and play word games to boost language development.<\/p>\n

The Countdown star\u2019s warning comes as the government prepares to issue its first advice to parents<\/a> on how to manage screen use in under-fives, amid concerns that excessive screen time is damaging children\u2019s language development.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many children are now falling behind,\u201d Dent said. \u201cThe vocabulary gap is getting bigger and there is a real perception that vocabulary development is suffering and that impacts on learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing a 2023 Oxford University Press report<\/a> that found that two in five pupils had fallen behind in vocabulary development, she said: \u201cThere is a huge perception that screen time is having a negative impact on vocabulary, and I think that\u2019s because it is taking away from reading time. The digital lives of our children are taking a greater and greater role and reading certainly is in decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying no to screens altogether,\u201d Dent said. \u201cI think technology has a huge role to play in enhancing children\u2019s vocabulary, if it\u2019s used in the right way. But I think reading is really suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dent, who has two daughters (one, she said, more in thrall to screens than the other), said English-language speakers had always been afraid of new technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Victorians were scared of the postcard because they thought it would hamper eloquence because people were going to have to cram sentences into a very small space. And the same happened with the telegram \u2013 there was great fear over that. And then we saw that magnified with the advent of the internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many ways in which the internet is actually helping. Rather than reducing language or English to some sort of bland monolith, it\u2019s actually encouraged variety. But there is a sweet spot between over-immersion and just using it in ways that can be beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dent, who co-presents Channel 4\u2019s Secret Genius<\/a> with Alan Carr, is fronting a new campaign \u2013 working with an unexpected partner, Soreen malt loaf \u2013 aimed at boosting children\u2019s vocabulary at snack time.<\/p>\n

A limited edition of Soreen lunchbox loaves will include fun words such as kerfuffle and hullabaloo, with definition and origins, as a way of sparking children\u2019s curiosity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really close to my heart because I spend my life trying to encourage people, especially children, to enjoy the dictionary because I think it has more drama and magic and adventure than almost any other book I can imagine, and you will also find out the most wonderful stories,\u201d Dent said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have lost a bit of that magic. Every age has thought that the golden age of language was in the past \u2026 and that somehow everything was perfect in the past. But I do think we are facing a huge challenge at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously our children are learning from our habits and many of us get our work emails on our phone, so actually we are working on our phone, but what children are seeing is the constant absorption by something that\u2019s not them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all seen \u2013 and I think we\u2019re all guilty of this \u2013 parents in cafes literally just looking at their phone while their children are just sitting looking as well. And that in some ways is a great sadness because conversation is everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me the biggest worry is the widening gap between children who do read and who do have good vocabulary acquisition and those who don\u2019t. It\u2019s quite a well-known effect that children who read will then accelerate their vocabulary acquisition much more quickly and it\u2019s at a much higher rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it a crisis? \u201cWhen we use hyperbole for everything, it makes everything a crisis and it doesn\u2019t particularly help,\u201d Dent said. \u201cBut I think there is a huge concern around reading and vocabulary expansion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would just say that there are ways that we can address it. So it is not a foregone conclusion that this is going to continue exponentially and we are about to fall off a cliff. There are definitely things that can be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cDialogue or conversation integrated into daily life is really important, also word-based games. This is another way in which actually going online can help, because there are so many brilliant word games out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dent also believes that learning a foreign language can play a critical role in developing a love and understanding of English. \u201cIf there\u2019s one thing I could change, it would be to really promote the learning of foreign languages at school, because it\u2019s just huge. It\u2019s immeasurable the advantage it can give you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if it should be compulsory in schools, she said: \u201cI would love it to be. It might seem like a chore, but I don\u2019t think anyone ever regrets having learned a foreign language.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s vocabulary is shrinking as reading loses out to screen time, according to the lexicographer Susie Dent, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-421875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}