Advice against allowing children to use smart devices and tablets is widespread for various reasons. However, a recent report has revealed shocking findings for the first time, discussing not only psychological or physical harms but much more. A report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron indicates that children should not be allowed to use smartphones until they are 13 years old. They should also be prevented from accessing traditional social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat until they are 18.
The strongly worded report states that children need protection from "the profit-driven strategy of the technology industry aimed at capturing children's attention, exploiting all forms of cognitive bias to distract children from screens, manipulate them, and re-engage them for profit." The report further claims that children have become a "commodity" in the new technology market, as reported by The Guardian.
The three-month-long study conducted by scientists and experts emphasized that children under three should not be exposed to screens, including television, and no child should have a phone before the age of 11. It stated that any phone given to a child between the ages of 11 and 13 should be one that does not have internet access, with the minimum age for having an internet-enabled smartphone set at 13.
It noted that a 15-year-old should only be permitted to access what it calls "ethical" social media, such as Mastodon. The study found that traditional social media widely marketed for profit, like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, should not be available to teenagers until they are 18.
Teenagers should also receive better education in the sciences, along with sufficient sleep. Additionally, the report made equally strict recommendations for younger children, stating that phones and screens should be kept to a minimum in maternity wards to help parents bond with their babies. For children under six, screen time of all types should be "extremely limited" and rarely used for educational content when sitting with an adult.
Screens should be completely banned in kindergartens for children under six, and in primary schools, children should not be given tablets or individual digital devices to work on unless due to a specific disability. The report also suggested banning online games, except those used as sound for storytelling.
It also claimed that this issue harms emotional development in young people, including adults who use their phones while feeding young children or homes where television is constantly on in the background. Scientists concluded that "parental controls" should not be seen as a sufficient means of protecting children but instead as an ineffective distraction promoted by the tech industry to "free itself from the predicament" of creating algorithms designed to addict children and monetize them.
