A foundation set up by the Princess of Wales four years ago has announced a major research project into how using digital devices impacts young children.

Kate Middleton’s The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood revealed today the £100,000 study will help families connect in the modern digital world – and it comes just weeks after the Princess, 43, penned a heartfelt essay on the topic.

The research will examine how to reduce parent-child disruption caused by digital devices, otherwise known as ‘technoference’.

Last month, Kate wrote an essay discussing the importance of connection in today’s digital landscape, which was published by the centre she set up in 2021.

The Princess of Wales’ poignant article, titled The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World, spoke of raising children in an increasingly digital and disconnected world.

Kate shares three children with Prince William: Prince George, 11, Princess Charlottenine, and Prince Louissix.

The royal wrote: ‘For babies and young children, the pull of screens will be even stronger than for older children and adults, the habits deeply ingrained as they grow.

‘Yet this is precisely the period when children should start developing the social and emotional skills that will serve them throughout life,’ the mother-of-three added.

The Princess said the nation was currently ‘raising a generation that may be “connected” than any in history while simultaneously being isolated, lonely, and less equipped to form the warm, meaningful relationships that research tells us are the foundation of a healthy life.’

She urged parents to strive to be ‘fully present with the people we care about’, saying ‘It means protecting sacred spaces for genuine connection: family dinners, conversations, moments of genuine eye contact and engaged listening.’

The new study will look at how to help parents build stronger connections in the early years of raising their kids, as well as finding a healthy balance with technology.

The project comes after Savanta conducted an online poll in August of 2,105 adults in the UK and found 66 per cent would like support for having a healthier technology and life balance.

According to the Centre, researchers will work with families across the UK to tackle digital disruption and looking at how to reduce its impact. The results will help shape resources for practitioners.

‘Nurturing relationships between babies, young children, and the adults in their lives are critical to the development of the core social and emotional life skills, which we know are the foundations of a healthy, happy and connected society in the future,’ Executive Director of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, Christian Guy, said.

‘There have been numerous studies about how digital devices impact relationships, but there is currently a lack of evidence about what is causing people to turn to their digital devices at times when it is interrupting family life and, importantly, how to help people reduce this unwanted interference.

‘The Centre is seeking to address these gaps in research, so we find the solutions to make a real difference to families’ lives.’

Last week, Kate spoke at the Centre’s Future Workforce Summitwhich marked her first public speech in two years since her cancer diagnosis in early 2024.

The Princess said: ‘My passion and the work of The Centre for Early Childhood, stems from one essential truth; that the love we feel in our earliest years fundamentally shapes who we become and how we thrive as adults.

‘Love is the first and most essential bond. But it is also the invisible thread, woven with time, attention and tenderness, through consistent, nurturing relationships, which creates the grounded and meaningful environments around a child.

‘It is this texture, the weave of love, which forms a child’s emotional world and becomes the foundation, the very fabric of resilience and belonging.’