Screen Damage: The Dangers of Digital Media for Children (La Fabrique du crétin digital)
Michel Desmurget, a neuroscience research director at INSERM, published this essay in French in 2019 (English translation, Screen Damage, followed from Polity Press in 2022). Rather than presenting new experiments of his own, Desmurget synthesizes published research to argue that heavy recreational screen use — which he says now averages several hours a day across French children, from toddlers through teenagers — is associated with weaker language development, poorer concentration and memory, lower academic achievement, disrupted sleep, reduced physical activity, and higher rates of low mood and aggression among the heaviest users. The book became a bestseller in France, received a special mention from the 2019 Prix Femina essai jury, and was described by France Inter radio as a 'public health book.' TechKids includes it as a widely read synthesis of association-level evidence on screen time and child development, not as new clinical evidence of its own.
The book's own starting figures for average daily recreational screen time among French children, used to frame its case that heavy exposure is now widespread across every age group.
The book was singled out by the Femina literary prize's essay jury in its year of publication, part of why it became a French bestseller and a reference point in French debates on children and screens.
Desmurget, Michel. La Fabrique du crétin digital : Les dangers des écrans pour nos enfants. Éditions du Seuil, 2019. English translation: Screen Damage: The Dangers of Digital Media for Children, translated by Andrew Brown, Polity Press, 2022.