The differentiated production of screen relationships in early childhood based on ELFE data

Few cultural domains have been the subject of as much moral panic and as many educational and health recommendations as children’s screen use, ranging from television to smartphones and computers. Whether issued by health organizations, parenting support services or educational bodies, institutional recommendations unanimously advocate limiting screen time and are based on three elements: a binary conception of screens – which contrasts so-called “passive” screens, notably television, with so-called “(inter)active” screens, a category into which digital screens are instinctively placed; a view of childhood as being at risk from screen use; and a critical assessment of parents, particularly those from working-class backgrounds, who are assumed to be failing to control their children’s screen use. The data provided by the ELFE cohort on the first six years of a child’s life enable a precise mapping of children’s relationships with screens by longitudinally documenting early socialization with screens. The article first highlights a discrepancy between institutional guidelines and social practices, the extent of which varies according to families’ position in the social sphere. It then identifies seven socially differentiated trajectories of screen use during early childhood. Focusing on the most unlikely trajectories, it highlights the social conditions that make them possible, as well as the dynamics contributing to the (in)effectiveness of institutional directives and reminders. Finally, it proposes possible explanations for the observed gap between social practices and institutional recommendations, including within families in the upper social strata, who are believed to adhere most closely to these recommendations.