Exposure to screens in children

Doctors advise against exposing children under 3 years old to screens. A recent article brought new information regarding this issue and showed that the effect of early and prolonged exposure to screens is more complex than previously thought.

As exposure to screens increases, 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, especially in young children. Psychiatrist Serge Tisseron has established a benchmark with 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟑-𝟔-𝟗-𝟏𝟐 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞: no television before 3 years old, no console or tablet before 6 years old, Internet after 9 years old and accompanied, and no Internet alone before the age of 12. The risks of 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬 before the age of 3 are numerous: disturbed attention, confusion between the real and the virtual, and impaired language development.

An article published in the 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑃𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑦 studied the 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 in a French national cohort, considering the social, perinatal, family context, and family lifestyle habits. The results showed that high screen exposure time was globally associated with 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 at ages 3.5 and 5.5. In particular, having the 𝐓𝐕 𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬 was deleterious to language development, as it interfered with parent-child interactions.

However, when the analyses were adjusted for socio-demographic and lifestyle factors, these negative associations became weaker. These results suggest that, in addition to screen time, 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐨-𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 influence children's cognitive development.