People urged to take a 'CyberBreak' from their devices

Families and workplaces are being urged to take a 24-hour break from the online world by putting away their devices from 5pm this evening until 5pm tomorrow.

The annual 'CyberBreak' event is organised by online safety charity CyberSafeKids.

Recent research from the group shows that primary school children as young as eight feel that they spend too much time online and find it hard to disconnect from games and social media apps.

The survey of over 7,100 primary and secondary school-aged children found that more than a quarter struggle to spend time away from gaming and social media.

More than half of 8-12 year olds and almost two-thirds of 12-14 year olds said they believe they "spend too much time online".

"The online world brings many benefits to our lives but we know as adults that sometimes it can be too all-consuming, and that’s true for kids as well," said Alex Cooney, CyberSafeKids CEO.

"CyberBreak is about taking time out to reassess how much of our time we spend online, reset the balance and replace the hours we lose to mindlessly scrolling online with some quality family time.

Over 40,000 people have signed up to take a CyberBreak this year.

"Research shows that spending less time online helps to reduce anxiety, improves the quality of sleep and boosts mental health for both children and adults, but with technology so prevalent, this is easier said than done," said Derek Chambers, Policy Lead, National Mental Health, HSE.

"Taking a CyberBreak gives us an opportunity to take a step back and address how we can find a healthy balance between our online and offline lives, as well as making it a fun-filled day for the whole family," Mr Chambers said.