Screen activities must be prohibited for children under the age of six because they “alter their health and intellectual capacities lastingly,” argue five French learned companies in a tribune published on Tuesday.
This “call for collective awareness” is aimed “to young parents, teachers, educators and pedagogues, caregivers, political decision -makers” and is co -signed and put online by the French pediatric society and those of public health, child psychiatry and adolescent and ophthalmology, as well as French -speaking health and environment.
The current message of the health authorities, “no screen before three years”, is “clearly insufficient and must be updated in the light of recent knowledge”, becoming: “no screen before six years”, they say.
“In 2025, doubt is no longer allowed and the very many international scientific publications are there to remind us: neither screen technology nor its contents, including those allegedly + educational + are adapted to a small brain in development,” add the signatories.
Brain alteration
“The screens, whatever the form – television, tablet, telephone – do not meet the needs of the child” and, “worse, they hinder and alter the construction of his brain”, alert learned societies.
Health professionals and kindergarten teachers and preparatory courses “note the product damage by regular exposure to screens before entering primary school: delay in language, attention disorders, memorization, motor agitation …” continues the text.
“If all socio-educational circles are concerned, exhibitions are stronger in disadvantaged homes, contributing to the increase in social inequalities”.
Because the neurode development of the child results “from observations and rich interactions with the environment” for which “the first six years of life are fundamental”.
“An age for everything”
“It is not a question of demonizing digital tools and their use but there is an age for everything”, underline these health experts, who call parents in particular to “create an environment favorable to the health and development of the child”, by promoting “alternative activities: reading alternately, games – free, of society or outdoors – physical, creative and artistic activities”.
