Queen Maxima says Princess Ariane has eyesight issues due to too much screen time

Princess Ariane has issues with her eyesight due to spending too much time looking at screens. Queen Maxima said this on Tuesday during the conference Clicks & Issues: Young and Online in Amsterdam. 17-year-old Ariane's eyes have difficulty focusing.

The central theme of the conference was the amount of time that children and young people spend looking at screens. The queen spoke with young people, scientists, members of boards, and experts in the area of digital environment.

Shortly after a young girl had spoken about her social media usage, Maxima told the people present about the eyesight issues of her “youngest child” and that they are “connected with screen time.”

The issues with Ariane’s eyesight led to conversations within the royal family’s house about the usage of mobile appliances. Ariane, who is Maxima and King Willem-Alexander’s youngest daughter, is currently not living at home. She started her studies at the United World College Adriatic in the Italian city of Trieste last summer.

Excessive screen time for children is a much-discussed topic. Political party D66 submitted a proposal for a minimum age limit for social media in December. They want to ensure that children under the age of 15 do not have access to social media that use algorithms to provide users with endless amounts of content. This proposal was not supported by many parties in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament.