As everyone knows, screens are now everywhere! Each household usually has more than four. However, each member of the family uses them and children are no exception. Logically, this poses a problem with regard to their health.
A study carried out between 2006 and 2015 by Santé Publique France estimates that children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 spend an average of 4h11min in front of a screen every day. However, this is worrying for their health, as some doctors explain. In a recent France Inter broadcast, speech therapist Elsa Job-Pigeard gave her opinion on the matter.
According to the specialist, many children spend all of their free time in front of a screen. The person concerned often faces language delays as well as interaction disorders and communication. According to her, it is now a matter of public health.
For pediatrician Sylvie Dieu Osika, tablets and other smartphones should not be banned, but learn to live with them . The recommendations are obviously addressed to parents. The goal is to avoid giving the child a screen in the morning. This also applies to meal times and in the evening before going to bed. The specialist believes that below the age of 6, using a tablet has absolutely no interest.
Sylvie Dieu Osika often meets two-year-olds who say hardly a word . Other frequent cases concern adolescents with significant sleep disorders. Too much time spent in front of a screen on a daily basis is therefore harmful to development. However, the effects are reversible so exposure time is significantly reduced.
In 2018, French psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik already believed that tablets for children under 3 should be banned. He said screens were bad for brain development and empathy for children. Boris Cyrulnik notably mentioned an addiction that hypnotizes children, which alters their brain development.
In 2019, the British doctor Rangan Chatterjee evoked a link between the increase in mental health disorders and anxiety among young people with time spent on screens. He also recommends reducing the daily time spent on screens. However, this measure must be accompanied by an optimization of food and sleep and the practice of physical and/or recreational activities.
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