Screens limit to 2 hours per day for cognitive development of children

A British study compared the cognitive abilities of children who spend more than 2 hours a day in front of screens to those whose exposure to screens is lower.

To limit the harm of screens on the cognitive development of children, it would be better to limit their exposure to screens by 2 hours per day. This is essentially what has to be learned from a new study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

The study conducted by Canadian researchers here was conducted among 4,520 children aged 8 to 11, spread over 20 sites in the United States. They spent an average of 3.6 hours a day in front of a screen, be it a phone, a tablet, a television or a computer. Note that the Canadian recommendations recommend less than 2 hours of screen, 9 to 11 hours of sleep and at least one hour of physical activity per day.


In total, only 5% of the children in the study met the three recommendations, and 30% did not. In detail, it turned out that 51% of children slept enough, 37% only spent less than 2 hours in front of screens, and 18% had one hour of physical activity per day.

After submitting the children to cognitive tests, the researchers found a correlation between the time spent in front of the screens and the cognitive abilities, the children spending less than 2h / day in front of the screens having better results than the others. But the amount of sleep and physical activity is also important, the ideal being to be closer to the three recommendations. Sleep and limiting to 2 hours of exposure to the screens proved to be the two most influential recommendations on cognition. Regarding sleep and physical activity, the latter correspond to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, which has not yet given an indication of the time spent in front of screens for the health of children.

In France, the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA) recommends not to expose a child under 3 years to a screen, as this can slow down its development. On the other hand, no official recommendation has yet been given as to the daily exposure not to be exceeded for children over 3 years old.