Despite World Health Organization recommendations, which are also accepted in Italy by the Italian Society of Paediatrics, not to use digital devices for children under the age of two, a National Institute of Health survey found that 22.1% of children aged 2-5 months in Italy spend time in front of a screen (TV, PC, tablet, or smartphone), most of them less than an hour a day. Exposure levels exhibit a positive correlation with age. When the total duration of use is taken into account, which varies from less than an hour to more than three hours, it becomes evident that between 11 and 15 months of age, 58.1% of girls and boys, or nearly 3 out of 5, are exposed to screens. More than one in every six children aged eleven to fifteen months is exposed to screens for at least one hour per day, with 3% exposed for three hours or more per day. In addition to the potential harmful impact on the child's cognitive, linguistic, and emotional development, one of the long-term hazards of excessive and extended exposure is the promotion of sedentary behavior and childhood obesity. Voice assistants are also widely used: 46% of families with at least one daughter or boy under the age of eight have one, and 1 in 3 of these youngsters engage with these gadgets autonomously, despite the fact that they were not meant for them.
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