Excessive time spent on social media and certain platforms could, by degrading children's mental health and cognitive abilities, cost France up to 2.3 points of GDP per year by 2060, according to a recent study.
Posted online on the Ministry of the Economy website, this work by economist Solal Chardon-Boucaud attempts, based on an analysis of existing scientific studies, to quantify the socio-economic cost of the negative effects of "The attention economy in the digital age."
The term refers to the model of social networks and certain digital platforms, designed to maximize the time spent online by their users, and therefore the profits from advertising and data collection.
"Overexposure to screens and the use of social media may be associated with a deterioration in sleep quality and a higher prevalence of psychological disorders" - depression, anxiety, chronic stress - with already observable economic impacts, the study recalls.
They come from "a 'direct' effect linked to digital solicitation - generation of stress hormones - and the functionalities of certain tools, such as social comparisons on social networks," she summarizes.
According to the INSEE, 57% of those under 20 years old report feeling at least one of the harmful effects of screens (reduction in sleep time, etc.).
This impact on mental health, combined with the loss of productive time linked to digital uses (frequent interruptions, slowed execution, etc.), already costs "0.6 points of GDP" today, the economist estimates.
This could increase to 2.3 GDP points per year by reducing French productivity by 2060: children currently overexposed to screens – the 30% of 12-17 year-olds who spend more than 35 hours per week in front of a screen, according to Crédoc – will then enter the job market.
A number of studies already show that "high exposure to screens from a very young age, and in particular the use of social networks and smartphones, has a particularly strong impact on attention spans, memorization and language skills," the expert points out.
Students using "smartphones at school for more than 3 hours a day have math scores between 30 and 50 points lower" than those using them for less than 2 hours a day, according to the PISA 2022 study, she notes.
And the potential effects of generative AI have yet to be fully understood: by requiring less effort, its use could in the long term lead to "cognitive debt" (less critical thinking and creativity), according to one study.
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