The subject systematically provokes confusion. How much time does your child spend in front of a screen? Do you control what he does on it? Responses are usually evasive and embarrassed, followed by admissions of helplessness. The results of the study by Public Health France published on April 12 will not alleviate the bad conscience of parents. This long survey of more than 18,000 children between 2013 and 2017 reveals that toddlers spend on average more time in front of a screen than the authorities recommend (no screen before two years and no more than an hour a day at three and a half years). Two-year-olds spend an average of 56 minutes there, three-and-a-half-year-olds 1h20, and five-and-a-half-year-olds 1h34.
The great discomfort of parents on this subject is understandable. Because adults themselves are far from being irreproachable in this area. Between the boom in on-demand entertainment (videos, games), the rise of professional or social messaging and the improvement of the network, it has never been so difficult to let go of your smartphone or computer. On average, the French look at a screen for 32 hours per week, i.e. almost a third of their waking time.
The guilt of adults is also explained by the absence of reference in the field. Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2010) is the first to have known the world without the Internet and to have such a wealth of easily accessible tools and platforms. Facing them, “the first generation of parents to really have to position themselves in this area. They need to be accompanied to take this subject in hand”, confided to us at the beginning of March Axelle Desaint, director of Internet without fear.
A 3-year-old knows how a touchscreen works
Finally, the uneasiness of the parents is often linked to a feeling of incompetence against which they have to fight. Yes, technology is changing at breakneck speed. It is logical to feel dropped in front of TikTok, web3 or generative AIs. But the idea that teenagers and young children instinctively understand the digital world because they were born into it is as misguided as it is dangerous. If a three-year-old understands how a touch screen works, it’s not because he’s a “digital native” or a High Intellectual, but because highly paid design geniuses spend months tweaking those interfaces. so that they are as simple and intuitive as possible.
For the rest, young people are far from mastering these platforms at their fingertips. “A lot of useful advice to give them is common sense and within reach of all parents. Explaining to their children the importance of speaking properly to others on the Internet, of not showing anything to anyone, for example”, reassures Axelle Desaint.
Control the age of Internet users
The gap between the time actually spent by the youngest French people in front of screens and what the authorities recommend shows, however, that we must act vigorously on the subject. Because these habits taken early will be harder to dislodge in the years to come and will bring, themselves, their share of challenges.
At three or four years old, it’s the volume of time spent in front of the screen that raises questions. Then, the question very quickly arises of the content to which the child will access, even more difficult to control because the first telephone of a young person is no longer a robust Nokia 3330 but a sophisticated smartphone connected to the exciting regions of the Web. “There is a very rapid rejuvenation of the age at which young people begin to use social networks, confided to us the director of the Internet without fear. More than 50% of children aged 8 to 11 have a TikTok account”.
Asking a child of this age to self-regulate by making these digital treats available to them is unreasonable. It’s up to parents to set limits and make them aware of the pitfalls they will inevitably face. Adults should not, however, form the only barrier between young people and the risks that the Internet entails. The authorities, in France in particular, are waking up and finally asking platforms to seriously check the age of Internet users who visit them. A strategic battle to win, otherwise the parents will continue to play a game with loaded dice.