Going on vacation: are you one of the 45% of parents who keep their children busy with screens on the road ?

Une étude réalisée par Opinionway pour tonies France démontre que 22% des parents laissent un smartphone à leurs enfants pendant le trajet des vacances. Imgorthand/Getty Images

45% of parents keep their children busy with screens on the road to vacation. A recent study carried out by OpinionWay for tonies France reveals that screens are essential traveling companions for children during long holiday journeys.

In the excitement of going on vacation, parents' patience is put to the test. Long journeys by car, train or plane are often stressful for parents. According to the study* carried out by Opinionway for tonies France, 85% of parents admit to losing patience on the road because of children. And while nearly 60% say they don't know what to do to keep their toddlers occupied, 45% still put them in front of a screen.

Screens, an easy solution ?

Faced with this difficulty, screens appear to be an easy solution for many parents. Thus, 76% of parents recognize that their children spend at least part of the journey on screens during long journeys and 84% of children will be exposed to screens this summer on at least one occasion.

However, parents are aware of the experts' recommendations. The commission of experts on the impact of young people's exposure to screens launched by Emmanuel Macron in May 2024 ruled in its report: no screen before 3 years, access & quot;highly limited", "casual", "with content of educational quality and accompanied by an adult", before 6 years of age, and the ban on connected toys intended under 6 years old, excluding connected story boxes.

However, 48% say that their children have their eyes glued to a smartphone or tablet for half the trip or more."

Alternatives to screens popular with parents

Despite this exposure to screens, 81% of parents favor other alternatives. Books, board games, toys and manual activities are also popular solutions for parents to keep their children occupied during long journeys. 37% of parents give them toys, books or comics. 16% of them choose audio stories as a way to entertain their children.

49% also chat with the children during the journey, and 47% play them music. Appreciating nature is a technique used by 38% of parents while 26% prefer to travel at night so that their offspring can sleep during the journey.

*This study was carried out from May 3 to 10, 2024 with a sample of 1001 people, representative of the French population of parents of elderly children from 3 to 10 years.