William expresses concern at mobile phone use as he visits youth club

The Prince of Wales has voiced concerns about society’s over use of mobile phones as he toured a youth club which he urged young people to use.

William visited West, a new £12 million centre providing a wealth of facilities for eight to 18-year-olds, and quizzed children about their phone habits.

The future king also played pool with the youngsters, shot basketball hoops and remembered Kate when he joined children decorating biscuits, telling them: “It’s my wife who’s the arty one.”

Sitting down with a group working on a mental health project, he asked: “How much time do you spend on your phone a day?” adding with a laugh, “We can all be honest about this.”

When one teenage girl said 15 hours, he replied: “Fifteen hours, that’s quite a lot – I bet you feel better coming here.”

West, which stands for Where Everyone Sticks Together, was named by the youngsters who use the facility in Shepherd’s Bush, west London which officially opens in April.

William appeared keen to see all aspects of West which is the 15th facility established by OnSide, a national youth centre charity.

The future King brought up the issue of mobile phone use again after he washed his hands, put on an apron and spread icing on a biscuit before decorating it.

He said: “Grown-ups are guilty of it too … we got to be better on our phones too – we spend ages on our phones.”

In October, OnSide published its “Generation Isolation” report which found 76% of 5,000 11-18-year-olds, surveyed in partnership with YouGov, spent most of their free time on screens, with 51% spending most of their time in their bedrooms.

When asked to name his favourite biscuit, William got an appreciative “ohh” from the children when he mentioned a popular sweet treat.

He said: “That’s a hard one to say what my favourite is, I like quite a lot. Chocolate digestives … I like a KitKat as well – other things are available.”

William tried shooting hoops, and at the fifth attempt scored and raised his arms in celebrations as the children cheered.

He had earlier told the youngsters that West was “an amazing facility, make the most of it”.

Charles Mindenhall, chair of OnSide, described the benefit the new centre will have for local young people: “As they come here and try different things, it helps them build an aspiration, not just to do those activities and get better at them but to try other things.”

He also commented on phone use: “With the Generation Isolation report that we did, too many children are stuck on their phones and that’s incredibly unhealthy thing for them to be doing.”