Screen Time | The French turn of the screw

“Faced with the commodification of our children, the Commission proposes to regain control of screens,” writes a group of French experts mandated by the government in the preamble to its report. Its recommendations are already attracting attention beyond France.

Very limited screen time

No screen time for children under 3 years old. Exposure is not recommended, at worst very limited, for 3 to 6 year olds. Then, moderate access from 6 years old. Then, moderate access from 6 years old. The recommendations made by 10 French experts in the report Children and screens: in search of wasted time are in line with what is already recommended in Quebec, Canada and elsewhere in the world. “Everyone is going in the same direction,” observes doctoral student Marie-Andrée Binet, from the University of Sherbrooke. “But the recommended recommendations are more severe in terms of screen time. This contrasts with other schools of thought or less “prescriptive” approaches which wish to move away from limits on screen time and instead focus on the content chosen and the contexts of use. » The problem… is that these recommendations are little known or followed. “We know that it is very difficult for parents to wait before introducing screens,” says M^me Binet.

Restricted access to social networks

Where the report goes further, notes Professor Élizabeth Harvey, of the department of educational sciences at the Université Sainte-Anne, in Nova Scotia, is that it addresses the question of the content that is displayed on the screens. “There are several research results from Canadian researchers and others which show that content also has an influence. » Social networks, believe the authors of the report, should not be accessible to adolescents under 15 years old. And again: these networks should be “ethical”, in particular to limit dependence. Access to pornography should be greatly restricted. Children should not own cell phones until age 11, and the state should ban phones in middle schools. “What makes a Nation rich is its youth, and ours is not for sale,” insist the authors.

Responsibility of tech companies

Now, the big question: how to intervene to protect children? “We will not put a police officer in front of each home,” addict psychiatrist Amine Benyamina, co-president of the commission which produced the report at the request of the government, declared on the French network RTL. Actors other than parents must be made responsible, explain the experts. First, the very ones who produce “predatory services with a harmful design for children”, for example, mechanisms designed to capture the attention of children, to “lock them in […] on their screens, control them, re-engage them, monetize them.” It should be up to these designers to prove that their products meet an “ethical standard”.

Guide rather than constrain

The authors of the report insist: we must aim to “protect, rather than control, children”. But the recommendations call for the adoption of more severe measures than simple awareness-raising, as governments have done so far, including in Canada. “Screen time is increasing and remains beyond the recommendations of pediatric associations, for all age groups,” recalls Élizabeth Harvey. So, we definitely have to go beyond everything that has been done so far. » Marie-Andrée Binet agrees. “I like the idea of ​​a collective approach,” she says. Recommendations often have the fault of placing all responsibility on parents, notes M^me Binet. “But there are companies that produce the content. » And adults, teachers or others, who do not always set a good example…

All concerned

“Everyone must clean up their house, including the State and National Education and the local authorities involved in National Education,” French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal declared on Tuesday. Certain government policies will have to be “rethought,” noted the head of government. Particularly on the use of screens at school. In certain educational establishments in France – such as in Quebec – “textbooks have been replaced by screens,” recalled Mr. Attal. “I am not technophobic in considering that all screens should be banned,” he added, noting that “there may be an educational aim and an educational interest”. “But the screen for the screen’s sake has no interest, it can be dangerous and therefore we will also have to rethink a certain number of policies which are carried out today in our public services, particularly in education. » For his part, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday “give the government one month to examine these recommendations and translate them into action”.

Consult the report submitted to the French government

With Agence France-Presse