What a 2025 world summit heard about screens and young children
By Adam Linmore · November 15, 2026
On Saturday, January 11, 2025, parents, doctors and psychologists from several countries logged on for the first day of an online event called the Screen Time & Child Development World Summit. It was hosted by the team behind the documentary A Stone Unturned, together with the nonprofit Screenpeace, and it ran over two days. The first day's recording, a little over two hours long, is free to watch: Screen Time & Child Development World Summit, Day 1.
We watched it and read its captions line by line. This page sets down who spoke and what they described, in their words where the captions carry them. It is a report of what was said at one event, not advice for your family and not a promise about any child.
Why the summit was held
The moderator, Mylène Pereira of Screenpeace, opened by saying the goal was to "raise awareness around screen time and the positive benefits families and children can have when screen time is reduced or adapted in the first years of life."
Wilder Nicholson, the documentary's director, followed. He spoke of doctors around the world describing "the connections between screen time and early child development," and of "how children respond so positively when there's less screen time and more chance for the in-person learning."
A pediatric doctor from France
The first main speaker was Dr. Anne-Lise Ducanda. She was introduced as a pediatric doctor in France who opened the first French consultation for children overexposed to screens in 2020, and who published a book on the subject in 2021.
She gave her talk in French. The English captions on the recording hold only stray words for that stretch, so we do not summarize her talk here. If you understand French, or can turn on a translation in your browser, the recording has it in full.
A school psychologist's experience
Later in the morning the moderator introduced Catherine Vidal, a psychologist in France who works with children aged 3 to 12 in the schools. In that introduction, the moderator said that many of the children Ms. Vidal sees "with developmental struggles have seen a return to normal development" after their families followed a recommendation to remove screens.
Ms. Vidal also spoke in French, and the captions do not carry her talk either. What we can report is that description of her work, as the moderator gave it, and nothing more.
A journalist's summary of the research
Near the end of the day, Jennifer Joy Madden, a health journalist and the founder of Durable Human, summed up what she had seen in the studies. "The research coming out," she said, "is showing all sorts of harms related with early life screen viewing, and that would be disruption to relationships, to delays in ... language development and also physical brain changes."
Her summary matches the direction of several large published studies. In a 2019 study in JAMA Pediatrics, Madigan and colleagues reported that toddlers with more screen time at 24 and 36 months did worse on developmental screening tests at 36 and 60 months. In a 2024 study in the same journal, Brushe and colleagues reported that at 36 months, children with more screen time heard 1,139 fewer words from adults each day, made 843 fewer sounds and words of their own, and took part in 194 fewer back-and-forth turns of conversation. These are associations measured in families, not proof that screens alone cause a delay.
A first step, with help alongside
A theme ran through the day. Speakers described removing screens as a first step, with early intervention alongside it. The summit's own description spoke of families who took screens away and worked with early intervention at the same time. During the question time, a parent in the audience asked what other kinds of help the speakers would suggest besides screen removal. Their answers are not in the English captions.
We think that pairing is worth noticing. In the parts we could follow, no speaker described screen removal as the whole answer. What they described was a home with more talk, more play and more time with people, and a child who also gets the support a doctor or specialist recommends.
What this can look like at home
If you came here because you are wondering about your own child's screen time, a few small changes are a gentle place to begin, whatever the reason:
Put the tablet and phone out of sight for one part of the day, such as breakfast or the hour before bed.
Turn off a TV that is on in the background while you play or eat.
Sit on the floor for ten minutes and follow your child's lead. Say what you see, wait, and let them take a turn.
The World Health Organization's 2019 guidelines advise no screen time for children under one, and no more than one hour a day for children aged two to four, with less being better.
Watch it yourself
The full first day is here: Screen Time & Child Development World Summit, Day 1. It is long, so the timestamps may help. The opening is at the start, Ms. Vidal's introduction is at about 41 minutes, and Ms. Madden's summary is near the end, at about 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Sources: the summit recording (Day 1, January 11, 2025), its English captions read November 15, 2026; Madigan S et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2019; Brushe ME et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2024; World Health Organization, 2019. Full references are on the Sources page.
Written with AI assistance and checked against the cited sources.
“Virtual Autism” is not a medical diagnosis. If you are concerned about your child's development, talk to your child's doctor.