The age of digital parenting: France launches platform to help families manage screen time

digital parenting

How much is OK? When does it become too much? How can I protect my children online? The prevalence of the screen use among children is a complicated topic, leading France to launch a digital parenting campaign to help parents. 

The campaign has come about “in response to the massive increase in the use of screens by young children” says the French government.  

The campaign hopes to bring the recommendations on digital parenting set out by France’s High Council on Public Health to a wider audience by broadcasting its various short films, quizzes and resources online over the next month.  

Recommendations include: 

  • Avoiding screen use before the age of three (and 3D screens before the age of five); 
  • Avoiding screens while eating, in a child’s room and for at least one hour before bed; 
  • Respecting the guide ages for films and video games; and 
  • Organising moments of shared screen use to encourage social interaction.

Guiding the campaign’s focus is a recent study commissioned by the Ipsos Institute on the difficulties encountered by parents when setting boundaries and managing screen time. In the study, 42% of parents said they were concerned about exposure to potentially offensive content, and as such, the campaign also encourages parents to familiarise themselves with the parental controls available online so as to better manage the content viewed by children.  

Of the pool of 1,000 parents of children aged three to 15 interviewed, more than six in 10 said they already take measures to ban or limit screen use.  

Check the campaign out for yourself and test out the quiz function to help you decide the best direction to take for your family.  

 

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Photo source: Robo Wunderkind for Unsplash