Good day, everyone. Thank you for your invitation to appear today.
First, you have a copy of my brief. I'm going to skip through it. We can rest assured that we're not alone in experiencing this situation. Countries all over the world are now trying to figure out how to recalibrate the place of the digital world in our lives, and this is something that has now become essential. The effects are felt not just by young people, and I'll underscore that throughout my presentation. We're all affected by the positive, and potentially negative, impacts of screens. We need to find solutions, hence the importance of recalibrating the place of screens. Nobody but the industry is to blame. The industry has consciously adopted addictive strategies due to the business model that Ms. Bonenfant has described so eloquently. Ms. Bonenfant and I are in fact working together on some of these areas.
The next three pages of my paper provide data on health impacts. I work with an organization that is attached to the Montreal Heart Institute, and we work in primary and secondary prevention of health problems.
It's also important to know that young people are well aware of the potential harms of screen use, but we're not here to blame them. This is a shared responsibility, as we'll see later. The important thing to note is that according to a very recent study out of Montreal, in the last three years, screen time for leisure purposes has increased across all segments of the population, not only among young people. Here, I want to emphasize that I'm talking about screen time for leisure purposes.
One takeaway is that usage in excess of two hours per day for leisure purposes is related to the onset and increase of health problems. For those who are following the document, this is at the bottom of page 3. Obviously, the recent emergence of artificial intelligence, which Ms. Bonenfant has just spoken to, is only making things worse. I have also described potential harms at the bottom of page 4, and I'll skim through them. There are potential physical, psychological, social and educational harms. We can come back to that later if members wish.
I wish to specifically focus on five major recommendations that I'd like to share with the committee. First, we need to recognize that screens are here to stay. They have become an essential part of our lives. They need to be recognized as a lifestyle habit, in the same manner as sleep, food and physical activity. They will continue to be part of our lifestyle habits. The problem now is that we are all learning how to manage this new lifestyle habit together. Parents have had to learn and children are learning at the same time, which is not the case with sleep habits, for example, where our parents explained clearly when it was time for us to go to bed, that we had to go to bed and get up in the morning. We're all learning how to cope with screens at the same time.
We call on the Government of Canada to close the gap by investing in understanding and analyzing this lifestyle habit over time, because it will evolve. The industry is evolving at a fast pace. For example, our studies on gaming are different from three years ago. The same goes with social media, which has evolved from three years ago.
I also ask that parents be held accountable, but above all, that they be supported. Ms. Todd provided a shining example earlier. I believe parents need to be supported in this aspect of their role. According to a 2022 study, the biggest challenge families are facing today is managing screen time at home.
My third recommendation is, where possible and within each authority's jurisdiction, encourage educational and child care settings to remove personal devices and screens from schools and child care settings, which are learning and socialization environments.
My fourth recommendation seeks to increase awareness of initiatives that are sound but isolated, such as the initiative we developed a few years ago known as PAUSE, which remains largely incomplete due to a lack of funding. The pauseyourscreen.com website is for parents, children, educators and professionals. There are other initiatives as well, of course. Ours is not the only one out there.
I'd also like to ensure we avoid demonizing screens and stigmatizing youth. As I said earlier, we need to measure the overall impact of screens on health, employment, the economy, culture, identity, democracy and politics. Lastly, there's a need for oversight within the industry, which doesn't want to be regulated and is fighting across the world against potential legislation. I think we need to take back control, either through a digital regulatory authority or any other type of regulation, and the industry must be held accountable for its impacts, just like any other product in society.
That's the end of my presentation. Thank you.