“A child under 6 years old spends on average 830 hours per year in front of a screen, that is to say a number of hours equivalent to those he spends in class”, warns Gabriel Attal, the Minister of ‘National Education.
Published
Reading time: 2 min
:quality(50)/2023/12/01/maxstockworld432765-656a1b85e11d4996659527.jpg)
“A health and educational disaster among children and adolescents” : these are the words of the Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal, in the columns of Madame Figaro magazine, concerning the use of screens at home. The minister was alarmed by the figures: “A child under 6 years old spends on average 830 hours per year in front of a screen, that is to say a number of hours equivalent to those they spend in class.” For Gabriel Attal, we must offer alternatives to screens from a very young age, in all primary schools.
According to a study by Santé Publique France last year, a two-year-old child spends on average 56 minutes per day on a screen. It climbs to 1 hour 20 minutes at the age of 3, and more than an hour and a half at 5 years old. Very often, young people watch television, and the older they get, the more they use media: computers, tablets, smartphones and game consoles. A duration much greater than the recommendations of the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom), which advises not exposing children under 3 to a screen, and no more than 30 minutes per day between 3 and 8 years.
Difficulty remembering information
However, not all uses of digital technology are equal. When a young person uses a screen with an adult, this can have beneficial effects: for example, at school or with their parents, when children use interactive educational content, it can help them acquire knowledge through play.
The main concerns of specialists concern the use of digital technology alone at home, for example when the young person uses their phone while doing something else on the side. “Having this type of practice will be associated with greater attentional distractibility and memory problems, that is to say, difficulty memorizing information”explains Séverine Erhel, lecturer in cognitive psychology at the University of Rennes.
“If you do your homework while looking at your phone, there is a greater chance that you will perform poorly in school.”
Séverine Erhel, lecturer in cognitive psychology at the University of Rennesat franceinfo
Among adolescents, excessive use of screens can also aggravate psychological vulnerabilities. “If I’m anxious and I’m trying to manage my negative emotions on TikTok, I’ll scroll. And this infinite system of videos will, among vulnerable people, accelerate the problems of regulation in relation to the use of the social network”explains Séverine Erhel, lecturer in cognitive psychology at the University of Rennes.
The least socially advantaged children are the most exposed because they often do fewer activities and are more often left alone in front of the television. For specialists, the key to solving these problems is above all digital education for everyone, children and adults included.