Children, Television and Screen Time
A complete IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 272 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 40 minutes. Write at least 250 words.
Some people think that children today watch too much television and other screen content. What are the main causes of this, and what could be done to address the problem? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Split the essay clearly: one paragraph for causes, one for solutions
- 02Give two or three causes — depth matters more than length
- 03Match each solution loosely to a cause where possible
- 04Use concrete examples (autoplay, after-school clubs) rather than vague claims
- 05Vary your sentence openers: 'First', 'Within the home', 'At a policy level'
- 06Use a confident conclusion that synthesises rather than repeats
Model answer
272 words in 4 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
It is widely accepted that children in many countries now spend several hours each day in front of televisions, tablets and phones. This essay will examine the principal causes of excessive viewing and propose practical solutions involving both families and society.
There are three main causes behind the trend. First, modern households often have both parents working long hours, and screens are an easy, inexpensive way to keep children occupied while meals are prepared or chores completed. Second, streaming services and short-form video apps are explicitly designed to be habit-forming, using personalised recommendations and autoplay to extend viewing time. Finally, opportunities for unsupervised outdoor play have shrunk in many cities because of traffic, safety concerns and the loss of public spaces, leaving television as one of the few low-cost forms of entertainment available indoors.
Tackling the problem effectively requires action at several levels. Within the home, parents can agree clear screen-time limits, keep devices out of bedrooms and watch programmes together so that viewing becomes a shared, conversational activity rather than a passive one. Schools can support this by setting active homework, running after-school sports clubs and teaching basic media literacy from an early age. At a policy level, governments can require streaming platforms to switch off autoplay for accounts registered to under-13s, fund the maintenance of safe local parks, and offer tax incentives for community sports facilities.
To conclude, children watch too much television primarily because busy households, addictive platforms and shrinking outdoor opportunities make it the path of least resistance. Reducing screen time will therefore require coordinated effort from parents, educators and policymakers rather than relying on any single fix.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 69 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
19 fewer than the median answer for this task type
8 words at the shortest, 35 at the longest
the same as the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 22.7 words and vary by 8.1 words either side of that, running from 8 words to 35. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 5 of the 12 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
6 in total, spread across 4 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
while
therefore, because
finally
to conclude
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 87 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 75 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 4 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Response
Identify causes and propose solutions, fully developed
Coherence & Cohesion
Structured progression with clear topic sentences
Lexical Resource
Range of vocabulary related to parenting, media and policy
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Accurate use of complex sentences and modal verbs for suggestions
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