The use of tablets, smartphones or even computers by children is worrying. The time spent by children in front of screens has increased in recent years in France and exceeds health recommendations, underlines this Wednesday the first major national study on the subject.
Overall, they are higher in families with immigrant origins, or a low level of education of the mother, according to this survey which is part of the Elfe study, carried out by INED ( National Institute for Demographic Studies) and Inserm (National Institute for Health and Medical Research). The first French longitudinal study on a national scale devoted to the follow-up of children from birth to adulthood, it included more than 18,000 children born in 2011, followed for a period of 20 years.
No screens for 2 years, according to WHO
Main results: daily screen time was on average 56 minutes at 2 years old, 1h20 at 3.5 years old and 1h34 at 5.5 years old. This is longer than the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommends not exposing children under 2 to screens, then limiting the time to 1 hour a day between 2 and 5 years old.
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. . The mother’s level of education also plays a role: children whose mother has a secondary school level spend 45 minutes (at 2 years old) and 1h15 (at 5 and a half years old) more in front of screens than children whose mother has a level of studies superior or equal to bac +5.
Declarative data
Gender, on the other hand, has less impact: no difference was observed at 2 years old between boys and girls, but a small difference emerges afterwards (10 minutes longer for boys at 5 and a half years old).
The authors acknowledge some limitations to their study, however, 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 old”, they write. “Portable screens such as the smartphone and the tablet having developed strongly during the 2010 decade, we could expect an increase in screen time, but this would be to ignore that the prevention messages intended for young children also increased during this period. »