INTERVIEW – In her Screen Overexposure consultation at Bondi’s Jean-Verdie Hospital, pediatrician Sylvie Dieu Osica sees children from infants to teenagers who can no longer do without screens. He explains how this addiction occurs and gives his advice to parents to avoid it.
During his press conference at the Elysée on Tuesday, January 16, Emmanuel Macron once again raised the important topic of children’s access to screens. The president expressed a desire to regain “control of our screens” and said he wanted “the best scientists (…) both epidemiologists and clinicians and sociologists and all disciplines to be able to tell us that ‘before It is not wise to put a child in front of a screen at such an age.” A survey by Public Health France in April found that 2-year-olds spend an average of about an hour a day in front of a screen. This figure doesn’t surprise Sylvie Dieu Osica (1), a pediatrician and member of the Collective on Screen Overexposure (CoSE). Since 2019, the doctor is responsible for the “Screen Overexposure” hospital consultation at the Jean-Verdie Hospital in Bondi (Saint-Saint-Denis) and sees children, sometimes infants, who can no longer do without screens. At what age can addiction occur? What are the implications for child development? What can parents do to avoid this? The specialist answers us.
Madame Figaro: What causes screen addiction in children?
The screen itself is addictive. Notifications, colors, image frequency, sound… Everything is designed and made in such a way to attract the child’s attention. And even a child becomes a victim. If we put him in front of the screen, we will see that he does not take his eyes off it. At the same time, several factors contribute to the emergence of addiction, for example, the child’s personality. Within the same family, some will be more affected than others. In my practice, I also notice that boys are more concerned. 80 to 90% of my consultations are about them, but we still don’t know how to explain it.
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At what age can this addiction occur?
It can appear at any age and even very early. During consultations, I see children from 18 months to 4 years old, who are in front of screens from 3 to 6 months old. The addiction process starts very quickly. To understand this, let’s take a classic situation: our child is ahead Paw Patrol, we take it from him, he cries. If we are tired, if we are a single parent, without external help, we give it back. Then he will ask again and again, the dose of screens can increase, and addiction will occur. When a child learns to eat in front of a screen, sleep in front of a screen, or is comforted by it, he cannot bear to be taken away. The family environment also contributes to the emergence of addiction. Children can fall into the screen trap if they are not offered something else at the same time and if the adults around them are too often caught up in screens themselves. Let’s not forget that it is built by example.
Everything is designed and made in such a way that the screen becomes addictive, so that it captures the attention of the child. And even a child becomes a victim
Sylvie Dieu Osika, pediatrician
What effects do you see on children?
The main problem common to all is sleep. They sleep less and sleep poorly, which later affects their overall development. I also see language disorders in young children, or rather language delays or even complete absences; for example, I met two-and-a-half-year-old children who did not speak a word. In some cases, children speak the “YouTube language”, they watch YouTube Kids for hours and then repeat what they hear. They thus come to the consultation reciting the alphabet or counting in English, but do not understand what they are saying and, above all, do not speak otherwise. I also notice problems with attention, frustration and behavior. They have learned to calm themselves with the screen and can’t do it any other way. Some have problems with communication, they do not look at others, they are not interested in what is happening around them. Finally, some have autism-like disorders.
What role should parents play?
I insist that the fault is not the parents, it is the company that, pouring the Internet everywhere, did not give instructions, did not warn and did not mention how important the rules to be implemented are. In my view, we should therefore legislate, as we do with alcohol and tobacco, and inform and educate parents about digital technology. This is included in the proposed law (related to preventing children’s excessive exposure to screens, editor’s note) by Caroline Janvier and Avro Berge, which dates from January 2023 and is still pending in the Senate. It should be explained to parents that when they are with their child but are busy on their phone, they are not responding to the child in the same way as if they were fully present. And this has consequences for the child’s early attachment and interaction.
It’s not the parents’ fault, it’s the company’s fault, which, spreading the Internet everywhere, did not provide instructions for use.
Sylvie Dieu Osika, pediatrician
What exactly can we do to help children develop a healthy relationship with screens?
I recommend not exposing him to screens until language is established, in other words, before he has language that can be understood by people other than his parents. Additionally, I recommend CoSE member Sabina Duflo’s 4-step method, inspired by the American Academy of Pediatrics: no screen in the room, this place should be reserved, even for teenagers, not early in the morning. go to kindergarten, daycare or school, not during lunch and not an hour before bedtime. In general, I recommend not using screens during school days; it is simple and practical for a family with several children of different ages. That said, screens should not be demonized and parents should not feel guilty, we all exposed our children to cartoons. Taking a selfie with your child or Skype with the child next to you is not dangerous, the problem is the content. The key, therefore, is to know what the child is looking at, to be available to him as it is constructed through our gaze, to accompany him and to exchange with him.
(1) Dr. Sylvie Dieu Osika is the author Screens, 10 keys to using them responsibly as a family(Ed. Hatier), €6.90.
Source: Le Figaro
