(Quebec) The Parti Québécois (PQ) invites the Legault government to take full account of the overexposure of young people to screens and submit a new digital action plan by June.
This plan must be implemented from the next school year, we can read in the motion presented by the PQ which will be the subject of a vote in the National Assembly on Thursday.
In its motion, the PQ asks that the National Assembly note that a new Australian study confirms the harmful effect of screens on the development of young children.
The party also points out that a longitudinal study by the Quebec Statistics Institute demonstrated a correlation between exposure to screens at a young age and academic performance in elementary school.
Overexposure to screens has a demonstrated impact on the development of cognitive abilities, on health, particularly vision problems, and on attention and behavioral problems in young people, according to the PQ.
He also asks that the National Assembly note that many countries have taken action, including France, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries, in particular, to correct this problem.
The motion affirms that the overexposure of young people to screens represents a public health issue, and that the Digital Action Plan in education and higher education, expired in 2023, is insufficient.
Consequently, she asks the government to table a new improved action plan “to better regulate the exposure of young people to screens before the end of the current period of parliamentary work”.