Choosing Screens, Rethinking Use

Choosing how we use screens — and favouring other activities — benefits both physical and psychological health. When screen use becomes excessive or unaccompanied, it can affect overall well-being: weight gain, sleep disturbances, agitation, inhibition, mental fatigue, and a weakened connection to oneself and others. The goal isn’t to ban screens, but to consider their place in daily life, their function, their rhythm, and the alternatives we can offer.

A teenager calling a friend and talking, or searching for homework information online, engages valuable cognitive and relational functions. That’s not the same as spending hours alone on video games or endlessly scrolling through random content. Connection isn’t built through texts — it’s built through exchanged words, shared silences, and eye contact.

Official guidelines and attention neuroscience

Official guidelines in France recommend screen time be adapted to age: no screens before age 3, very limited use before age 6, and active guidance through adolescence. It’s not about prohibition, but about choosing, guiding, commenting, and sharing.

The YouTube video “The Habit That FORCES Your Brain To STOP Consuming” highlights this phenomenon: the brain, overstimulated by passive content, loses its ability to produce, connect, and dream. The author proposes a simple habit — reflective output — where one reformulates what was learned in their own words, slows the flow, and transforms consumption into creation.

Neuroscience research, notably by Oppezzo and Schwartz at Stanford (2014), shows that walking boosts creativity by activating the brain’s default mode network, which supports introspective thought and daydreaming. This network is inhibited by intense external stimulation.

Concrete alternatives and psychological development

A walk after school, baking a cake together, free play without screens, listening to music or radio, printed or drawn manual activities. Playing board games like CodeNames, card games, or hide-and-seek for younger children. For adults: conversing with someone, cooking dinner, gazing at the sky, playing an instrument, listening to the radio, or going for a walk. These simple gestures restore rhythm, connection, embodiment, and meaning.

Studies on meditation in children and adolescents show positive effects on attention, executive functions, stress reduction, and academic performance.

Expert voices

Neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik emphasizes the importance of protecting young children from early screen exposure. He recommends no screens at all before age 3 — a critical period for brain development.

Psychiatrist Serge Tisseron developed the 3-6-9-12 guidelines for digital education. He stresses the importance of guidance, content selection, and screen time regulation. It’s not just about how long we spend on screens, but what we do, with whom, and how.

Boredom as creative space

Boredom, often feared, is actually a gateway to creativity. It allows individuals to confront themselves, mobilize internal resources, dream, and invent. The instant pleasure offered by screens — especially short videos — activates the brain’s dopamine circuit without engaging symbolic pathways. It gives pleasure but doesn’t build thought.

What I sometimes suggest to families is not to ban screens, but to reintroduce spaces of emptiness, slowness, and movement — invitations to reconnect with oneself and the world, to rehabilitate boredom as a space for creation, and to restore the body’s role in the development of thought.

References

• Cyrulnik, B. (2023). Pas d’écrans avant 3 ans. Ouest-France.
• Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(4), 1142–1152.
• Tisseron, S. (2013). 3-6-9-12: Taming Screens and Growing Up. Érès.