Kids and screentime: What the committee appointed by Macron recommends

Their report advises against exposing under-threes to screens and suggests waiting until the age of 11 for a cellphone and 13 for a smartphone with internet access. 

The report by the expert committee appointed by President Emmanuel Macron in January to assess the impact of young people’s screen exposure was eagerly awaited. The committee presented its findings on Tuesday, April 30, after more than three months of work. The omnipresence of screens and their effects on health are causing concern, even at the highest level of government, and the French president gave the government one month, on Wednesday, May 1, in a message on X, to “review these recommendations and translate them into action.”

In the 142-page report, entitled “A la recherche du temps perdu” (In Search of Lost Time), the 10 specialists reviewed the scientific literature, interviewed around a hundred experts and practitioners, and met 150 young people. While acknowledging “the advantages of these tools, which are capable of emancipating children, giving them easier access to knowledge,” they express concern and issue a warning from the outset: “We must adopt a truthful discourse to describe the reality of children’s excessive online connections and the consequences for their health, development, future, and also for our own future.”

They said that time spent on screens has “consequences for children’s health, development, future, as well as the future of our society and civilisation.”

The experts focused on the ways social media can be a ‘risk factor’ for depression and anxiety, especially if there is a pre-existing vulnerability, and they noted the “alarming” level of exposure children have to pornographic and violent content. 

While they specified that screens do not cause neuro-developmental disorders, they did call for vigilance. 

Screen access – They advised no screens at all – including TV – for children under three years old, and then ‘highly limited’ access between three to six years old, which would involve educational content and the supervision and involvement of an adult.

Mobile phones and social media – The commission recommended only authorising mobile phones from the age of 11 – and even so – phones that do not have access to the internet. They suggested that smartphones only be given from age 13 and onward, without access to social media.

Then, at age 15, they said ‘ethical’ (ie Mastadon or Bluesky) social media consumption could be allowed. They recommended avoiding apps such as Instagram and TikTok before age 18.

Schools and nurseries – The experts recommended that secondary schools create ‘mobile-free’ areas, or even experiment with ‘smartphone-free’ schools in order to assess the impact on school life and bullying.

They also recommended that computers and televisions are banned in nurseries (crèches).

‘Predatory’ practices by tech companies – The experts also called attention to the way tech industries try to hold onto children’s attention, and they recommended efforts to “combat predatory practices such as infinite scrolling or automatic video launch”. 

They said that companies’ algorithms generate addictive behaviour among minors. 

European scale – The experts also said that these recommendations should be taken on board on a European scale, which President Macron has echoed previously, including during his speech last week at the Sorbonne where he argued in favour of instituting an online minimum age of 15 (‘digital majority’).

What could legislation entail?

Legislation may or may not cover the above topics, but the concept of regulating childhood screen-time has already been on the minds of French lawmakers.

Last year, in 2023, members of Macron’s Renaissance party tabled a bill that would create more training on screen time for health professionals and people who work with children, more regulation on the use of screens in nursery and primary schools.

They also sought the creation of a ‘prevention message’ on computers, tablets and phones to warn consumers, in a similar manner to tobacco products, about the dangers for young children. However, this bill still needs to be examined and debated by the Senate.

The right-wing Les Républicains party also tabled a bill at the beginning of April calling for a ban on screen usage in nurseries for children under the age of three. 

What about other steps taken by the French government?

Aside from proposed legislation, lawmakers and health authorities have already taken some steps to regulate screen access and internet usage.

Recommendations from health authorities – French public health authorities had previously issued some recommendations about screen time (PDF).

Their parental guide recommends: No TV before three years old, no video games before six years old, no internet before nine years old and no internet alone (unsupervised) before 12 years old.

On top of that, at the end of May, there will be a national meeting for paediatricians, and according to Le Parisien, some topics on the table will be introducing a mental health check before collège (lower secondary school) and tools to help children sleep better. Both of these will reportedly have screen-related recommendations.

Parental control defaults – Starting in July 2024, all devices that can access the internet will need to have a default parental control. This includes smartphones, computers, TVs and game consoles, and it was part of a 2022 law for protecting children on the internet. 

In practical terms, this will mean that manufacturers looking to sell their internet-enabled devices in France will need to abide by the new rules. The parental controls must be free of charge and available on the device as soon as they are put into service. 

The goal is to help protect kids from pornographic content on the internet by facilitating the use of parental controls.

Manufacturers that fail to comply will risk administrative fines. 

Phones in school – Technically, French law already prohibits mobile phones in nursery, primary and lower secondary school. The country’s Education Code stipulates that pupils are not allowed to use mobile phones “during any teaching activity or any other locations specified in school rules”. 

As a result, kids cannot use their phones during class, but depending on the school they might be able to use their phone during recess on the playground.

Government recommended site – The French government also created the online tools to help both parents and children understand the risks online and with screen-time.

The website jeprotegemonenfant.gouv.fr has a quiz to help parents understand if they are paying close enough attention to their children’s time on screens. It also has a list of technology and social networks that allow parental controls, as well as tips on how to use them.

Social media privacy law – In February, France adopted a law to protect children’s right to privacy on the internet before they are of legal age to access social media. This created the concept of a ‘private life’ for children, requiring that parents protect their children’s ‘image rights’ by taking into account the opinion of the second parent, as well as their child’s feelings depending on their age or maturity.

arents who ‘violate the child’s dignity’ can lose the right to share photos and videos on social media, with the power to protect the child’s privacy handed off to a third party or a judge. This was provoked by issues with ‘influencer’ parents who use images and videos of their children to make money or gain fame online.

There are also concerns around images of children being taken off of social media accounts and sent around on pornographic websites.