The "3-6-9-12" rule for children and the screen

How many hours do our children spend even when they are in infancy watching TV? How many hours do we leave it open in our living room? How many hours do school children spend with tablets, game consoles (the well-known playstations) but also how familiar are they now - much more than us, with social media and the internet in general? For those who come in contact with children of this age on a daily basis due to work or family situation, the answer is self-evident. Countless hours κυρίως and mostly without any control.

SergeTisseron, one of the most famous French psychoanalysts-psychiatrists in his country, with a special interest in the study of the relations of young people with new technologies and the effects of information technology on young people, developed in 2008 the rule "3-6-9 -12 ».

But what does this rule tell us? "No TV before 3 years, no console games before 6, no internet before 9 years, and no social media (facebook, twitter ..) before 12".

This view was very popular and in 2011 the French Association of Pediatricians accepted his proposal.

But why not TV 3 years ago?

According to S. Tisseronoles, research on young children and television has shown that television is full of violent noises that babies cannot understand and that prevent them from learning to concentrate. Parents tend to underestimate the severity of the effects of digital tools on the young child, at a time when reflexes are automatically acquired.

Why should parents not give the child a personal tablet or a personal game console before the age of 6?

According to the French psychiatrist, the child can play with these devices, but it is better to use them as family devices. Reality confirms that once the child becomes the owner of these devices, their use becomes uncontrollable. In addition, it is best to avoid using these devices to calm the child, or the night before bed, because the light sources that are used disrupt the rhythms of sleep.

For Tisseron from the age of 9 onwards, internet access is a right and not a ban. But how;

It is better for children to get advice and support from their parents when "surfing" the internet. No one ever knows what they might find by typing in a keyword. Even the cartoons we find on the internet are not always safe, as some have been hacked. They start as a cartoon, but continue to promote drugs, or show pornographic images, and end as a cartoon. For the "supervised internet" it does not mean to stand behind the child every time he goes on the internet, nor to watch everything he does, looking at the history, but first to prepare the child and secondly between 6 and 9 years old, to explain to him the three basic rules of the internet.

"-What you put there can be made 'public'
-Whatever you put there will stay forever
"You should not believe everything you find"

Finally, the French psychiatrist explains that for children from 3-6 years old, parents can progressively in terms of engaging in television and video games, from one hour to two hours a week, with the aim of then progressively at six hours a week until the age of 12. The goal is for entertainment time through the screen to never exceed two hours a day, whatever your age.

By Eurydice Nerantzi, Psychologist, MSc Synthetic Therapeutic Counseling

Source: psychopedia.gr