- Parents’ concerns over screen time grows when kids spend four hours online during the summer holidays
- The secure net update only helps British families despite vodafone operating in over 20 countries
- Unstructured screen time rises during school breaks, triggering fresh demand for digital boundaries at home
As the summer holidays bring more freedom and fewer routines, children spend much more time online, but new research has warned about the risks this could bring.
A Report from Vodafonethree revealed screen time among 8 to 17-year-olds has risen to as much as four hours of unstructured use per day. Day, an increase of 42% compared to during the school period.
While some of this time is used to keep in touch with friends or occupy long journeys, nearly two -thirds (65%) of British parents have expressed concern about their children’s digital habits during school breaks and the overall influence on them.
Digital protective measures for children arrive but not for everyone
In response, Vodafonethree plans to release a major update to its Secure Net app that offers improved parental control features designed to help families manage devices more easily.
“Unstructured screen time tends to naturally rise during the summer holidays, so we have joined forces with Digital Awareness UK to offer practical, parent -friendly guidance,” said Nicki Lyons, Head of Business Affairs and Sustainability Officer at Vodafonthree.
“Combined with our safe net service, which offers the most comprehensive parental control of any major UK network, families may feel more confident in navigating the digital world together and enjoying a more secure, more balanced summer holiday.”
The secure network app, which currently offers basic filtration and protection, soon allows British parents to manage both mobile and home broadband connections through a single interface.
Its goal is to create a simpler way for families to limit access to inappropriate content, reduce distractions and encourage healthier routines.
The app features include “Pause the Internet”, “Bedtime Mode”, Content Filters and a “Focus Time” setting that blocks certain apps in examination periods.
While Vodafonthree describes the tool as offering the most complete set of parental control between large UK networks, it is not a substitute for other forms of digital protection.
The app does not include antivirus or ransomware protection, and its main function is to check access rather than detecting threats.
Families who hope to improve the overall digital security may still need separate software to protect against malware or more sophisticated attacks.
However, despite its global reach, the company makes the updated app available only to its UK customers at no extra cost.
This raises questions, especially given the universal nature of the questions involved.
Parents across the parent company Vodafone’s many markets face similar concerns about screen time, harmful content and lack of supervision, but they have been omitted for now.
“We know that summer holidays can be a challenging time. This cannot always be avoided, but without structure it can lead to greater exposure to online injuries, mental health effects and unhealthy technological habits that are difficult to regret,” said Emma Robertson, CEO of Digital Awareness UK.
