While the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends do not expose children under 2 years old to screens, and to limit screen time to 1 hour a day until 5 years old, French children seem to be more glued to it than they should. According to a study by Public Health France, which “first described nationally and longitudinally the time spent by young children in front of screens, average screen times exceed recommendations” (source 1). The study was carried out with more than 18,000 children aged 2 to 5 and a half, between 2013 and 2017.
In children of 2 years, daily screen time averaged 56 minutes. At 3 years old, he arrives at 1:20 a.m., and at 1h34 on average for children aged 5 and a half. The survey even indicates that a “significant share (from 11 to 26% depending on age) of children spend more than two hours a day in front of screens”.
#Screens]???? According to data from the Elf cohort of@Ined and the@Inserm published in the #BEHonly 13.7% of parents comply with the recommendation not to expose children to screens. #children less than 2 years old.
– SantépubliqueFrance (@SantePublicFr) April 12, 2023
Disparities according to gender, origins, regions…
The television is “the main screen watched by young children”: it represents 86% of screen time at 2 years old. This proportion decreases with age, with children learning to play video games, tablets and telephones from the age of 3 and a half. Thus, at the age of 5 and a half, young people only spend “more” than one hour in front of the television per day on average. An Ipsos survey carried out in 2023 for the government indicated that 96% of French children “own or use at least one digital device” (source 2).
Public Health France notes certain disparities:
- “screen times were higher among families with immigrant origins“, in particular from the Maghreb or sub-Saharan Africa;
- they were also higher in children whose mother’s level of education was weak. “Children whose mother has a college level spend 45 min (at 2 years old) to 1h15 (at 5.5 years old) more in front of screens than children whose mother has a level of education greater than or equal to bac + 5”;
- 5.5-year-old boys spent slightly more time (10 minutes) than girls in front of screens;
- Screen time differed by region: it was lower in Brittany (47 minutes for 2-year-old children), and higher in Hauts-de-France (1 hour 4 minutes).
