Children can focus for just 21 minutes as parents fear a concentration crisis

Children and teenagers can concentrate for an average of just 21 minutes before becoming distracted, according to new research that lays bare growing parental fears over the effect of screens on young people's ability to focus.

Four in five parents say their child struggles to maintain concentration for more than half an hour, while almost a quarter believe their son or daughter can manage only five to ten minutes before their attention wanders. The findings add to growing concern that a childhood increasingly dominated by smartphones, gaming and short-form videos is changing the way young people think, learn and tolerate boredom.

The study of 1,003 UK parents, commissioned by Harrows Darts, found that 82% believe their child can focus for no more than 30 minutes, approximately 15 minutes shorter than the length of a typical school lesson. Three in ten said their child could concentrate for only 11 to 20 minutes at a time.

Screens dominate parental anxieties. More than two thirds of parents are worried about the effect of screen time on their child's attention span, while 64% fear their child is addicted to screens. A similar proportion expressed concerns about the potential impact on children's mental health.

Short-form videos appear to be a particular source of unease. Some 37% of parents blamed content such as TikTok videos, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts for damaging attention spans, while 31% pointed towards gaming and fast-paced apps. More than four in ten said their children spend at least three hours a day using devices, while one in eight reported daily screen use of five hours or more.

The findings arrive amid an increasingly heated national debate over children's relationship with technology and whether parents, schools or the state should intervene more forcefully. The Government has considered restrictions on social media use among under-16s, but the concerns identified by the survey stretch considerably further than social networks alone. Gaming, streaming, smartphones and the wider culture of instant digital entertainment have all become part of a childhood in which almost any moment of boredom can be eliminated with the touch of a screen.

Parents are not simply worried about their children's ability to sit through a lesson. Many reported concerns that young people are finding it harder to persist with difficult activities, tolerate frustration and develop patience. These are skills that matter well beyond academic performance, affecting everything from relationships and sport to employment and the ability to complete demanding tasks.

Teachers appear to share those concerns. A global survey by Cambridge International in 2025 found that 88% of teachers believed pupils' attention spans were becoming shorter. The question facing schools is increasingly not whether young people are more distracted, but what can realistically be done about it.

There is an obvious danger in blaming screens for every difficulty facing modern children. Smartphones and computers are essential tools for education, communication and work, while claims of a generational concentration crisis require more than parental perceptions alone to prove a direct causal relationship. Yet it would be equally complacent to ignore the profound change in how young people spend their time and the commercial incentives behind digital platforms specifically designed to keep users scrolling, watching and returning for more.

The response need not necessarily be a wholesale retreat from technology. Some schools are instead turning towards traditional, hands-on activities that demand patience and sustained attention. According to the research, 85% of parents believe tactile, non-digital pursuits could improve children's concentration and social interaction.

One unlikely activity gaining attention is darts. Harrows Darts has launched its NxtGeneducation programme for secondary schools, providing dartboards, scoring equipment and teacher-written lesson plans intended to develop concentration, mental arithmetic, resilience and self-discipline.

Ciaran Prendergast, assistant headteacher at Simon Balle All-through School, who developed the educational materials for the programme, said darts required pupils to slow down and shut out distractions. "At a time when many young people are competing with constant digital distractions, darts offers something refreshingly different. It develops sustained concentration, mental arithmetic, resilience and self-discipline in a fun, inclusive environment."

The sport has the advantage of demanding immediate mental engagement. Players must calculate scores, consider combinations and maintain physical control while performing a repetitive task in which success depends heavily on patience. For schools searching for accessible activities that combine competition with concentration, its recent resurgence in popularity may provide an opportunity.

Darts alone will not solve concerns over children's attention spans, nor will banning one app or imposing a universal screen-time limit address every aspect of the problem. The more fundamental challenge is ensuring that children still encounter activities that require them to persevere when there is no instant reward, tolerate frustration when something proves difficult and experience boredom without immediately reaching for a device.

If the average child really can concentrate for only 21 minutes, the consequences extend far beyond the classroom. Education, work and much of adult life still demand the ability to focus when something is difficult, repetitive or simply less entertaining than a smartphone. The question is whether today's children are losing that ability, or whether adults are finally beginning to notice how dramatically the environment in which they are growing up has changed.