The 3-6-9-12 rule has become fashionable to accompany parents in their children's access to screens. Enunciated by French paediatricians, it proposes the absence of technology until the age of 3 (including television); up to 6, no video games or tablets, due to the addiction they can cause, they make them lose track of time and prevent them from developing other games and psychomotor skills. Until the age of 9, avoid using computers, because even installing a parental filter you can come across information for adults, even coming into contact with dangerous people (this rule has been relaxed if parental control is strict). And until 12, no cell phones or internet alone (and with social networks expect even more).
María Angustias Salmerón is a pediatrician and coordinator of the digital health group of the Health Promotion Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP): «Pediatrics has been concerned for years about the impact of screens at this age because it affects the health, neurodevelopment, psychoaffective development and learning This specific rule is from the French Society of Pediatrics, but any message that helps raise awareness is welcome. From the AEP we have created a tool that we will keep updated according to scientific evidence. Her proposal is called Family Digital Plan, and it provides recommendations according to the child's age, in addition to making it possible to create a program to specify the relationship of all family members with technology:
From 0 to 2 years
Limit digital use to video calls with family and friends, at most in short periods: singing a song, reading a short story, greeting the child… Reduce screens as much as possible at this age, and in any case , that they are accompanied. Choose content without quick image changes and with a specific purpose. And never use screens as an emotional 'pacifier' for tantrums or tantrums.
3 to 5 years
If we give a digital device to a child of this age, even with television, prevent them from being alone, do not turn them into 'care devices'. Repeating and explaining what they see or interacting with the images helps them process the information. Set an example by also regulating the use that adults make of devices. Choose age-appropriate content: the attention span at 3 years old fluctuates between 6 and 9 minutes, and at 4 years old it reaches 12 at most, less than most television programs or videos. In any case, let it be interactive content. Videoconferences of a few minutes. Use parental controls on screens.
From 6 to 9 years
Technology in itself is neither good nor bad, it depends on the use we make of it. It is a stage with rapid and profound changes for our children, so we must periodically review the family digital plan with them, discuss the rules with them and take their opinion into account. Talk about the risks, discuss cyberbullying, pornography, meeting strangers, sending or receiving images with sexual content. Most social media providers recommend against using social media until you are 14 years old. We must ask ourselves if our child is ready and be willing to accompany him in a more exhaustive way and be present and available. And continue setting a good example.
From 10 to 18 years
The AEP advises parents to talk to their teenagers about the experiences and decisions they are making online. Parents should set limits for their teens and intervene when necessary to help their children stay safe. Update the plan as the years go by, since at this stage there will be many and very big changes. Continue talking to them about the risks, as in the previous stage. And continue to accompany and advise them in their use of social networks.
“Better to read on paper”
This 3-6-9-12 rule applies only in the domestic sphere. In education, institutions increasingly encourage its use, although in recent times voices are emerging that question it. Pediatrician María Angustias Salmerón recalls that this same year “international reports such as PISA or UNESCO were published, in addition to the available scientific evidence, which warn of the digitalization of teaching and how it should be carried out.” In Spain, she points out, digitalization is “unequal: from educational centers that do not use it, others that do so partially and even those that bring textbooks to the screen. Each type of digitization has a different impact. What we know is that at the moment the screen did not demonstrate improvements in reading on paper. Therefore, out of a principle of prudence, reading on paper is ideal.
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