The time that children spend in front of screens has increased in recent years in France and exceeds health recommendations, the first major national study on the subject underlines this Wednesday.
In general, they are higher in families of immigrant origin, or low educational level of the mother, according to this survey that is part of the Elfe study, carried out by the INED (National Institute of Demographic Studies) and the Inserm (National Institute of Health and Medical Investigation).
18,000 children followed
The first nationwide French longitudinal study dedicated to monitoring children from birth to adulthood, included more than 18,000 children born in 2011, followed for a period of 20 years.
Main results: Daily screen time averaged 56 minutes at 2 years, 1h20 at 3.5 years, and 1h34 at 5.5 years.
This is longer than the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommends not exposing children under 2 years of age to screens, thus limiting the time to 1 hour a day between the ages of 2 and 5.
Another lesson from the study: children whose mothers were born in the Maghreb, Turkey or sub-Saharan Africa spend on average 30 to 50 minutes (depending on age) more in front of screens than those whose mothers were born in France.
declarative data
The educational level of the mother also influences: children whose mother has a secondary level spend 45 min (at 2 years) and 1h15 (at 5 and a half years) more in front of the screens than children whose mother has a level of studies greater than or equal to bac +5.
Gender has a minor impact: no difference was observed at 2 years between boys and girls, but a small difference appears later (10 more minutes for boys at 5.5 years).
The authors acknowledge some limitations of their study, including the fact that screen time measurements are declarative data.
“It is difficult to predict the recent evolution of uses in children under 6 years of age,” they write. “After having strongly developed portable screens such as the smartphone and tablet during the 2010s, we might expect an increase in screen time, but this would be to ignore that prevention messages aimed at young children have also multiplied. during this time.
Source: BFM TV
