Yarone, 26 months old, hums but doesn't speak, or only very little – a few barely enunciated utterances. "Sounds more than words, really," according to his parents, Cindy and Ruben (who preferred not to give their last names). On a Monday morning in late February, they were received for their first appointment at the Jean-Verdier Hospital in Bondy, northeast of Paris. Every week, families come here to ask pediatrician Sylvie Dieu Osika for help dealing with their children's excessive screen use.

The room where the doctor received the young couple, located at the end of a corridor adjoining the emergency room, echoed with the melodies that Yarone sang on a loop, often while spinning in circles and sometimes clapping his hands. He paid no heed to the toys – trains, blocks, etc. – that were near him. That's precisely what raised the alarm for his mom. "He's in his own bubble," she worried.

In December 2023, while on vacation and spending "more time at home," Cindy came to the realization that her baby, who used to be "lively and smiling in her first few months" as she captured in videos on her smartphone, had become withdrawn. "He looked at us and smiled less often and sang more and more." These melodies came from nursery rhymes posted on YouTube and viewed on the family TV screen "left on every afternoon," the parents admitted candidly. That is until they decided to put a stop to it. On December 26, they began to reduce their son's screen time. On January 6, they turned off the TV "permanently" until bedtime for Yarone and his older sister, who is two years older. They also asked the "nanny" to do the same.

"For 10 days, it was very hard," continued Cindy, "He kept having fits, like a drug addict." Since then, she's delighted to see him "start again" to take an interest in his toys and "start again" to babble. Still, she can't put aside the anxiety his behavior caused her to feel.

After a clinical examination of the little boy, the pediatrician offered advice on how to continue his "weaning" process and scheduled a second appointment – possibly the last – three months later. "You've already done part of the job," she reassured the parents. "Offer him stimulation, play with him, be patient... Language is a structure that takes time to build. By tackling the problem early enough, you've put all the chances on your side."

"The paradox is that we wouldn't have found you without screens and social media," Cindy and Ruben chuckled at the end of the appointment. Ever since President Emmanuel Macron's press conference on January 16, during which he called on the nation to "take back control" over screens and assess their "proper use," including at home, Dieu Osika has received numerous requests for interviews from radio and TV stations.

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