As ‘addiction’ fears grow, should small children be banned from watching any screens?

Regulators and programme makers gathered at a global trade show for children’s entertainment in Cannes are at odds over whether very small children should be banned from watching television or using tablets and smartphones.

France urges parents not to allow children under three to watch TV, and American paediatricians also favour a total ban on screen time until at least 18 months.

Carole Bienaime-Besse, who sits on France’s TV regulator, the CSA, claimed Sunday that overexposing babies and small children to digital devices has become a “public health issue”.

“People are realising that screens can cause addiction even among very small children, and in extreme cases autistic problems, what is called virtual autism,” she said as executives gathered at the MIPJunior trade show at Cannes on the French Riviera.

“Silicon Valley also knows this. There are lots of educational apps for babies, but in the end the results are counterproductive,” Bienaime-Besse said.

Studies show that “children overexposed to them are the ones who find it hardest at school,” she said.

France banned its broadcasters from targeting under-threes in 2008, and blocked Fox-owned BabyTV from launching there.