Children under the age of six should not be exposed to screens, including television, to avoid the permanent damage to the development of their brain, French medical experts said.
Television, tablets, computers, video games and smartphones “had already a major impact on a young generation that was sacrificed on the altar of ignorance,” according to an open letter to the government from five leading health bodies – pediatrics, public health, ophthalology, infant for children, adolescents, health and the environment.
They said that they are calling for an urgent rethinking of the general policies to protect future generations: “screens in any way do not meet the needs of children. Worse, they hinder and change the growth of the brain,” which causes “a permanent change in their health and intellectual capabilities.”
The current recommendations in France are that children should not be exposed to screens before the age of three and have only a “accidental use” between the age of three and six in the presence of an adult.
Societies indicate that the ban on screens must be applied at home and schools.
They wrote: “The screen technology or its content is adapted, including the so -called” educational “content, with a small developing brain. Children are not adults miniature: their needs are different.”
They add that health professionals every day and infant school teachers “notice the damage caused by regular exposure to screens before them before that. [children] Enter the elementary school: delay in language, attention deficit, memory problems and motor excitement. “
Experts suggest regular exposure to screens – no matter how short – had a negative impact on the social and emotional development of children. They suggest that the problem affects all social groups, but in particular the disadvantaged families that lead to “social inequality”.
Alternatives including “reading loudly, free play, table games or external games, material, creative and artistic activities.”
The message says: “No one will happen to allow a six -year -old child crossing the road alone. Why then show them on the screen when he harms his health and their intellectual future?”
Last year, a report commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron found that French children between the ages of three to six years spent one hour 47 minutes a day in front of the screen in 2014-15, which is the latest research available. Since then, only one of the committee’s recommendations has been implemented with regard to exposure to chips that are no less than the screens.
Former Prime Minister Gabriel Atal went further, as he suggested banning children under the age of 15 years of social media, with a “curfew” on the Internet for a period of 15 and 18 years of age stopping their arrival at social media at 10 pm.