A bad habit against which doctors sound the alarm. For several years, numerous studies have insisted on the harmfulness of excessive exposure to screens for the little ones, which would cause a delay in the development of some “addicts” to television, smartphones and other tablets.
“It is very harmful for a young child who is under construction and affects all of the child’s abilities, language, the development of cognitive abilities, relationships with others, motor skills, emotional management,” confirms the doctor to BFMTV. Anne-Lise Ducanda, Physician at PMI and founder of collective overexposure screens.
“The longer I’m away, the better”
To help children in this situation and their parents, Sylvie Dieu Osika, a pediatrician at the Jean Verdier Hospital (AP-HP) and member of the CoSE collective, decided to set up specific consultations where advice is given.
The patient of the day, Samuel, is a three-year-old boy who barely speaks. The consultation, which begins with a routine questionnaire, quickly transitions to the child’s screen consumption.
“Five or six hours of television a day,” confirms his mother, who insists that her son started watching television at six months, during the first confinement of 2020. We did not go out, we could do practically nothing. To be able to occupy them, I only found this solution, the TV, ”she admits.
Throughout the consultation, and without pretending that the parents feel guilty, the pediatrician will give various tips to get Samuel out of the grasp of the screens. “The longer I’m outside, the better,” he insists.
“And I’m going to go further, if you can’t do it for x reasons, I prefer that you be in the studio until 6:00 p.m., that you spend hellish days, that you are tired. Get home at 5:00 p.m. watch television, no ”, adds the specialist.
Before 3 years, it is not
It must be said that the consequences of the overexposure of young children to screens can be dramatic. “We create disability”, accuses Sylvie Dieu Osika, who once again points out difficulties “in language, development of cognitive abilities, relationship with others, motor skills and management of emotions”.
A list corroborated by numerous works, the latest of which come from the barometer of children’s foundation on the impact of digital technology on children’s health, published last February. The study thus showed behavioral disorders (anger, aggressiveness) and sleep in 84% of cases of overexposure to screens.
In a study published in 2016, the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA) pointed out the harmfulness of screens for the youngest. The accompanying message was then clear: before the age of 3, a child has nothing to do in front of a screen, tactile or not.
Source: BFM TV
