Desmurget (2019) a sévèrement condamné l’utilisation des écrans par les jeunes enfants (avant 6 ans) car elle pourrait les « décérébrer ». L’analyse critique de son argumentation suggère cependant qu’un tel rejet pourrait être une position par trop radicale. Les premières données scolaires de l’étude Elfe (Étude longitudinale française depuis l’enfance), obtenues en MS (moyenne section de l’école maternelle) lorsque les enfants avaient 57 mois en moyenne, permettent d’analyser les associations d’une utilisation précoce des écrans (tablettes, ordinateurs et smartphones) à 3 ans avec leur performance et comportement scolaires. En accord avec notre suggestion initiale, aucune association significative, suggérant un effet néfaste des écrans, n’a pu être observée malgré la puissance statistique des analyses sur plusieurs milliers d’enfants. Ces analyses ne fournissent toutefois aucune réponse à la question importante d’un effet néfaste à long terme de cette utilisation : peut-elle être la base d’une future addiction ?

In France, a recent well-documented book by Desmurget (2019) severely condemned all use of screen by preschoolers. Desmurget speaks from a danger of decerebration leading to dumbass children. However, a critical analysis of his argumentation suggests that such a rejection could be an overly radical position. The French longitudinal study, Elfe, was initiated in 2011 on more than 18,000 newborns. Follow-up was intensive in the infancy and pre-school periods, including a telephone interview of the mother (or, if not available, the father) at age 3.5years. In this interview, the mothers answered many questions about the use of screens (here limited to tablets, computers, and smartphones) by their children. The children were then tested in 2016, when they were in the nursery school (4- to 5-year-olds, 57months in mean), with a large cognitive test, involving both literacy (n=35) and numeracy (n=24) items, and a visual attention test, the Teddy bears cancellation test. In the latter test, the participant is asked to cross out, with the pencil in his/her dominant hand, all the teddy bears (n=15) distributed on the page among 60 distractors in one minute of time. Moreover, the teachers were asked to rate the children's competence in cognitive (language, maths, sciences) and non-cognitive (physical or musical activities) domains and their social behaviors (helping, sharing, and attention to others) on a 3 or 5-items Likert-scale. Regression analysis of the total cognitive test score on the screen use, adjusted for age, gender, mother's study level, family's income, and number of siblings, showed an association between computer use and cognitive performance in nursery school. Correlations between screen use and, respectively, the cognitive test score, the visual attention test, the teachers’ rating about the performance or behavior of their students was never significantly negative. In fact, some were even significantly positive, albeit low and non-conclusive due to the limitations of the study. The results, both of the regression and correlational analyses, are consistent with our suggestion that Desmurget's position is overly radical but do not exclude that, in the long term, the early use of screen can be the basis of a future addiction.