Screen addicts: Children spend more time in front of a computer or television every day than they spend exercising every week

Addicted: A study has found that youngsters are spending more than four and a half hours every day looking at TV or computer screens

Children in Britain sit in front of a TV or computer screen for four-and-a-half hours a day, alarming research reveals.

Youngsters now spend an average of one hour and 50 minutes online and two hours 40 minutes in front of the television every day.

A report released by research firm ChildWise suggests that screens are increasingly turning into electronic babysitters and young people in the UK are spending more time plugged in than ever.

It found that children spend more time in front of a screen in one day than they spend exercising in the entire week.

The worrying research found that 97 per cent of 11 to 16-year-olds own a mobile phone – eight per cent more than the percentage of adults who own one.

And it showed that young girls have a voracious appetite for celebrity magazines such as OK! and Heat rather than more traditional teenage fare such as Jackie.

The study came as an academic warned that youngsters are using mobile phones to learn about each others’ bodies and access X-rated porn rather than learning about such matters ‘behind the bike sheds’.

Dr Emma Bond, an expert in childhood and youth studies, said adults ‘need to take our heads out of the sand’ about what is happening to young, impressionable children.

‘The research shows how children are using mobile phones in obtaining sexual material, developing their sexual identities and in their intimate relationships with each other,’ she added.

The Monitor Report 2010-11 found that children spent only two hours a week exercising in school, and taking part in physical activity out of school.

Two in three children aged between five and 16, and 77 per cent of children aged 11 to 16, have their own television or personal computer and, despite fears about online safety, almost half have internet access in their own room.

The study questioned almost 2,500 five to 16-year-olds about their computer, TV and reading habits. The findings show most go online daily and spend much of their time on social networks and video sharing sites such as YouTube.

But despite the popularity of the internet, the next generation is still likely to be one of telly addicts.

Around 63 per cent of children have a television set in their room but as the popularity of laptops increases and programmes are increasingly available online this is likely to drop.

'Your mother found this mobile under your mattress'

A spokesman for ChildWise said: ‘The number of children with a laptop or PC now matches those with a television but TV continues to play an important role. The way they are watching is continually changing. Children are seeking out programming that they want, when they want it.

‘Children’s online activity is moving towards personal access for all, so that, in the not too distant future the disadvantaged child will be the one without a laptop of their own.’

Despite Facebook supposedly being restricted to over-13s, more than two million children under that age now have a profile on the social networking site. It is named as their favourite website.

The research found a third of all seven to ten-year-olds visited Facebook in the last week, along with 71 per cent of 11 and 12-year-olds and 85 per cent of 13-16-year-olds.

Even with the wide choice from digital and satellite channels and dedicated youth stations such as ITV2 and E4, BBC1 remains the most popular TV channel.

EastEnders and The Simpsons are among their favourite programmes, along with the crude Channel 4 comedy about school life The Inbetweeners.

Margaret Morrissey of lobby group Parents Outloud, said children could not be blamed for spending time on the computer or in front of the TV.

On many housing estates gardens had been reduced to the size of a pocket handkerchief, she said. ‘We cannot complain as the generation in charge when they (children) use the things we have provided and don’t have space to do recreational things outdoors,’ she said.

You CAN have sex through pregnancy without harming your baby, say experts (21+)

Passionate partner: Unfortunately sex can't trigger a long overdue labour

Pregnant women can enjoy sex without endangering their unborn baby, research shows.

There is no evidence that regular love-making increases the risk of a premature birth or other complications, a study says.

The latest findings also contradict the belief that intercourse can help induce a long-overdue labour.

Scientists have concluded that sex during pregnancy is both ‘common’ and ‘normal’, even if it can become a little tricky during the final few weeks.

They say most expectant mothers can carry on making love without risking going into labour early, blood clots or infections of the womb.

Only those who are expecting twins or triplets or have previously had a premature birth should abstain – and even then there is little evidence to show they are at increased risk.

Researchers in the U.S. and Canada looked at evidence from several previous studies which had all examined the possible risks of sex during pregnancy.

One study compared 11,000 pregnant women, half who were sexually active, the other half abstinent, and found no difference between the two groups.

Another looked at women who had previously had at least one premature birth and found regular sex did not increase the risk.

The research, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, also concluded that once they have given birth, women generally begin having sex within one or two months.

Dr Clair Jones, of the Department of Obstetrics, at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, said: ‘Sex in pregnancy is normal. Patients with low-risk pregnancies should feel comfortable engaging in sexual activity as they please.’

'Gay people were probably abused as children', says Ground Zero mosque's new imam

The new imam at the Ground Zero mosque has has sparked fury after declaring that gay people were probably abused as children.

Abdallah Adhami is also quoted as saying that people who leave Islam for other religions should be jailed.

His controversial views were published in a lecture posted on his non-profit website, Sakeenah, and have already drawn criticism from human rights groups who have slammed him as 'ignorant'.

Controversial: Abdallah Adhami is quoted as saying gay people were probably abused as children

According to the New York Post Adhami, 44, said being gay was a 'painful trial' which comes as a result of past trauma.

He said: 'An enormously overwhelming percentage of people struggle with homosexual feeling because of some form of violent emotional or sexual abuse at some point in their life. A small, tiny percentage of people are born with a natural inclination that they cannot explain. You find this in the animal kingdom at some level as well.'

Adhami was named Imam and senior adviser of the proposed mosque by Park51, the organisation behind it.

Fred Sainz, a spokesman for gay rights group the Human Rights Campaign, said the comments were ignorant and hateful, and questioned his 'greater judgement'.

Plans for the mosque on the site of the former Twin Towers caused controversy from the outset.

Sacred ground: More than nine years after the Twin Towers came crashing down, the area of Lower Manhattan now known as Ground Zero is still in the early stages of redevelopment

The Park51 mosque has become a lightning rod for anti-Muslim feeling, with poll after poll indicating it should not be built so close to where the Twin Towers fell.

Last year, developers applied for a $5million grant from a fund set up to rebuild the city after 9/11.

Serious questions have been raised about its backers including controversial Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf who refuses to rule out obtaining funding from countries in the Middle East which have backed terrorist regimes.

‘If Imam Feisal and his retinue want to know why they're not trusted, here's yet another reason,’ said. Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble With Islam and Director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University.

‘The New Yorkers I speak with have questions about Park51. Requesting money from public coffers without engaging the public shows a staggering lack of empathy - especially from a man who says he's all about dialogue.’

Day of infamy: The World Trade Center south tower bursts into flames after being struck by a hijacked aircraft as the north tower burns following an earlier impact on September 11, 2001

The application was made to the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation, which is overseeing the $20billion (£12.5billion) in federal aid which is earmarked for rebuilding New York and its communities.

The bid appears to have been legal as religious groups can make such requests ‘as long as the request is for a facility or portion of a facility that is dedicated to non-religious activities or uses’.

However the board that makes the final decision must also consider its commitment to ‘an open, inclusive, and transparent planning process’ which could scupper the deal.

What is clear is that the application is well above the $100,000 to $1million which is the recommended range for grant applications, something else the board will have to weigh up. The board's decision is expected this year.

Desolation: Rescuers begin the search for survivors in the aftermath of the terrorist strikes

Currently on the site of the proposed mosque is a disused branch of Burlington Coat Factory which will be demolished to make way for the new $70million (£44million) building.

Construction is due to begin on September 11 this year – the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack.

Some 2,995 people including 67 Britons were killed when terrorists flew passenger jets into the Twin Towers on September 11 2001.

The funding application was uncovered by U.S. politics and culture blog The Daily Beast.

It polled its readers to ask if the move was ‘inappropriate’ and 75 per cent agreed.