That's what a new study by the Schools Health Education Unit in Scotland seems to have found, as the Scotsman reported. It shows young people were playing more computer games, doing less homework and taking part in fewer sports, and that boys were more likely to play computer games than girls, with a "significant" proportion admitted doing so the night before the survey was carried out.

In the early 1990s, 45 per cent of girls aged 12-13 said they enjoyed reading after school, but this has dropped to just 25 per cent. In conclusion? "While there are benefits to playing some computer games, it is easy to suppose that their time might be better spent," the study said.

Of course, the skeptic in me wonders at the approach, but when early 500,000 pupils aged between ten and 15 from across the UK, I guess that's a pretty healthy sample size to extrapolate from...