Gadgets rule lives of 'lazy generation'

A major survey has revealed Kiwi teenagers are poised to become a generation of lazy - though technologically savvy - couch potatoes.

A nationwide survey of more than 30,000 Year 5 to 10 students at 726 schools has found a third of children did no more than 30 minutes of physical activity a day - while a fifth admitted to doing no physical activity at all. Only a third of children walked or biked to school.

Worryingly, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in the online CensusAtSchool survey, sponsored by the Education Ministry, Statistics New Zealand and Auckland University's statistics department, said they watched an hour or more of television a day.

A third, meanwhile, spent an hour or more at a computer or game console. Around 80 per cent of boys had access to a games console like XBox or PlayStation.

However, ownership of expensive technological items was not limited to televisions. Nearly a third of children owned their own MP3 player, while around two-thirds had their own cellphone.

By Year 10, 85 per cent of students had their own cellphone, with girls more likely to own the must-have accessory than boys.

Cellphones - which rated in the survey as the number one Christmas present - were used to send up to 25 texts a day by a quarter of users, with parents footing the bill in about a quarter of cases.

There also appeared to be little parental control of these activities, with half the children surveyed saying they had their own TV. Three-quarters had access to the internet at home. Only half the children surveyed said they were currently reading a book.

The survey also looked at lifestyle-type trends such as whether children were eating breakfast and lunch.

More than 90 per cent of children surveyed had breakfast the day they filled out the census, with most having toast or cereal, while nearly 80 per cent brought their lunch from home.

Surprisingly, however, nearly two-thirds of children picked a family member as the adult they most looked up to. Celebrities and sportspeople trailed a distant second and third place.

Just under three-quarters of teenagers surveyed said they belonged to a school or club sports team.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY