Screens Are a Major Part of Children’s Daily Lives

In 2022, nearly all children aged 3–11 spent time regularly in front of screens, primarily watching television. This time increased with age, rising from an average of 1 hour and 22 minutes per day among children aged 3–5 to 2 hours and 33 minutes among those aged 9–11. This time was twice as long on days off from school compared to school days.

The presence of a screen in the bedroom became more common with age; this primarily referred to televisions, followed by game consoles and tablets. While owning a personal smartphone remained rare before age 6, 15% of children in this age group already had a tablet. Nearly one in two 11-year-olds (in elementary school) owned a smartphone before starting middle school.

Furthermore, usage patterns varied by age and gender. While television remained the most common screen in children’s daily lives through the end of elementary school, usage diversified with age: boys preferred video game consoles, while girls began using smartphones more frequently starting at age 9. Access to social media involved less than 2% of 3- to 5-year-olds, but reached 25% of 9- to 11-year-olds (30% among girls). As a reminder, in France, the minimum age to sign up for social media is 13. Finally, nearly 2.4% of children aged 6–8 and about 5% of those aged 9–11 who had access to social media reported having been teased or humiliated there.

Contrasting family practices, marked by social inequalities

The results presented today highlight the decisive role played by parents in children’s screen exposure and reveal significant social disparities. Indeed, children from families with the lowest educational attainment spent more time in front of screens and were more likely to have personal devices or a screen in their bedroom. Among 3- to 5-year-olds, 72% spent an average of more than 1 hour per day in front of a screen in families with the lowest educational attainment, compared to 35% in families with the highest educational attainment. Among 6- to 8-year-olds, 55% spent an average of more than 2 hours per day in front of screens in families with the lowest educational attainment (compared to 20% in other families). For 9- to 11-year-olds, these proportions of more than 2 hours of daily screen time were 73% and 39%.

These disparities, observed as early as preschool and persisting with age, underscore the importance of strengthening promotional and preventive measures while taking social inequalities into account.

Generally speaking, while the vast majority of parents (9 out of 10) reported monitoring their children’s screen time, control over the content viewed remained more limited and tended to decrease as the child grew older. In fact, although 9 out of 10 parents “always” or “often” limit their child’s screen time, control over content decreases with age: 52% of parents of 3- to 5-year-olds, 45% of 6- to 8-year-olds, and 36% of 9- to 11-year-olds report “often” preventing their child from accessing certain content. However, 5 to 9% of parents, depending on the child’s age, “never” limit this content.