Five tips to limit the harmful effects of screens on your children

If we cannot ban them, how can we ensure that screens, which have become essential in the lives of our children, do not harm their development?

Guest of "Sans Rendez-vous", Monday on Europe 1, the psychiatrist Serge Tisseron gives some keys to reassure worried parents. 

What proportion of French children use at least one digital tool?

"From 12-13 years old, I think we can say 100%", assures Serge Tisseron.

Impossible, therefore, to consider an outright ban on these screens, present in all spheres of existence from an early age.

How, then, can we best protect the health of our children?

Guest of

Sans Rendez-vous

, on Europe 1, the psychiatrist, member of the Academy of technologies and co-author of the book

The screens and me

(Ed. Hygée) gives some advice. 

>> Find all of

Sans Rendez-vous

every day from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here

Do not assume that children "know how to do"

According to the specialist, it is first of all essential not to assume that children do not need to be educated on the Internet because they are "born with". "Young people often give parents the impression that they know how to use it well because they very quickly acquire certain behaviors adapted to the spaces they explore", explains Serge Tisseron. "However, being born in the era of the car does not exempt you from passing your driver's license."

It is therefore necessary to show pedagogy to encourage the youngest to protect themselves, for example by explaining to them that "everything that we put on the Internet can remain in the public domain forever" or by inciting them not to believe everything they read online.

All without "drowning" the children who would then be less receptive.

"Digital technology is a bit like sexuality: you shouldn't anticipate too many things but make yourself available to questions when they arise", sums up the psychiatrist.  

Make rules for the whole family 

Second advice: do not ask children to respect rules that you do not apply to yourself. "You have to set family rules, for example by avoiding using digital tools during the only meal that is usually taken together, the evening meal," says Serge Tisseron. "No television, no smartphone or tablet. If followed, the child can do the same with his friends, and decide that no one answers the phone during the meal, for example. Or, if he eats at the restaurant, whoever answers pay the bill. "

For the evening, the experts recommend "a kind of digital curfew", recalls the member of the Academy of technologies.

Once again, it applies to the whole family: "We turn off the screens at 9:30 p.m., so that the children have at least 30 minutes before going to bed."

Because a sleep disturbed by the famous "blue light" of the screens is often synonymous with a lower concentration at school the next day. 

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Make sure to keep other activities 

To put things in perspective, Serge Tisseron then recommends reminding children that their parents and grandparents grew up without the internet and social networks, because "it allows them to understand that we can do a lot of other things". "It is important to have physical activities, even more for a child or a teenager who needs to develop his musculature for his growth", warns the psychiatrist, also recalling that the "too many screens" increases the risk of snacking. 

It is therefore necessary to save time for other activities, and only these.

Because "having the impression of doing two things at the same time does not mean that one can do two tasks on which one is concentrated", underlines the doctor.

"When you're doing an activity or your schoolwork, it's better to do just that."

A way, too, to protect oneself from the "addictive" effect of screens: "All these solicitations work for our brain a bit like very sweet products: they are products which flatter our expectation of reward." 

Keep a close eye on video games

Like other digital tools, video games are very difficult to ban outright. Serge Tisseron therefore recommends to "distinguish between video games where you always do the same things, and those where you are invited to have your attention focused in parallel on different things and to have different strategies, because they are said to increase the psychic plasticity, that is to say the capacity to face the unforeseeable. " Be careful, however: "Even video games that can be said to be 'useful' for a certain psychic development, if you spend 4 hours in them during the day, you are wasting your time." 

The psychiatrist advises to ensure the choice of games but also the way to play them: "It is always better with several, physically or in network with comrades that one knows."

Last recommendation in this area: show that you are interested and not denigrate the game the child is playing.

"There is something that no video game will teach us, it is the ability to tell. To invite our children to develop it, let's ask them to tell us about their video games!"

>> READ ALSO

- Why teens are addicted to screens

Always be available

In general, Serge Tisseron advises to take care to maintain "a good atmosphere of exchange in the family" and "moments of free communication".

So if the kid "has stumbled upon a porn site, been cyberstalked, or seen their boyfriend being cyberstalked, they know there is a time to talk about it: let's not wait for them to have problems."

“Take an interest in what your kids think they've done, saying 'well done' when they've won a video game” that they play in moderation, he urges.

"It will thus have less need to be recognized in an illusory way on social networks."