The Princess of Wales is encouraging parents to limit screen time for their children in order to help build up their emotional and social skills, in an essay published with a Harvard professor.

Catherine published an essay entitled ‘The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World’ written in collaboration with the psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and Harvard Medical School professor Professor Robert Waldinger.

The thesis, Catherine wrote, is “What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life?” and if parents could invest their time and energy into one particular area in order to help their families thrive, what would that be?

The future queen summarized a study into what makes healthy adults with the finding that it’s not lower cholesterol or blood pressure, it’s “the quality of their connections with other people,” and that too much screen time and social media is isolating young people and hindering them from making these connections or finding ways to curb their loneliness.

“While digital devices promise to keep us connected, they frequently do the opposite,” Catherine wrote. “Our smartphones, tablets, and computers have become sources of constant distraction, fragmenting our focus and preventing us from giving others the undivided attention that relationships require.”

The Princess of Wales argues that because the brain development is fastest from pregnancy to the age of five, encouraging young people to have less screen time and building more tangible relationships with the people in their lives is beneficial to raising healthy adults with emotional and social skills.

“These skills will influence their success far more than academic achievements alone, and will touch every part of their lives, from how they form friendships, to how they raise their own children, to their values and the decisions they make,” Catherine wrote. “Honing these skills could be transformative as we look to the future and imagine a very different world.”

With this point made, Catherine makes her central argument: limit screen time for children so they have the means to develop social and emotional skills, and parents and guardians limit their screen time as well so that their children have actions to mirror.

“This is not just about creating a more loving environment for our children. It’s about creating a more loving world. And that begins with a simple, deliberate act,” Catherine wrote.

The Princess of Wales’s powerful essay was followed by a visit to Home-Start Oxford, whose parent charity, Home-Start UK, is a partner of the future queen’s Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. Home-Start is using the Centre’s animated films as part of a pilot programme to educate families on how to build social and emotional skills with their children.

During her visit, Catherine met with families and volunteers. She spoke of the importance of the films and the message they convey, and joined in a ‘Stay and Play’ session with parents and their children, making imaginary cakes out of non-food play items.

The royal was overheard telling mothers “the messier it is, the better the fun,” about playtime and revealed that Princess Charlotte loves playing outdoors, according to a report in Hello!

“[The Princess of Wales’s] genuine passion for children’s earliest years shone through in the thoughtful conversations she had with both our families and volunteers,” said Home-Start Oxford’s chief executive Katherine Barber in a statement on the charity’s website.

“We’re proud to be part of a project that celebrates the everyday moments that shape a child’s future.”

On social media, Catherine wrote: “Attention is the most basic form of love. In our increasingly distracted world, it has never been more important to hold on to what truly connects us – to ourselves, to one another, and to the world around us.

“Thank you to Home-Start and the Rose Hill Community Centre in Oxford for today and for all you do to nurture strong connections in the community. C”

Read Catherine’s essay in full here.