If the harassment was limited to an attempt, it was definitely real in Aurore’s son’s group. “With a friend, he became the target of inappropriate exchanges and harassment. On my advice he left the group but the kids had his phone number and sent him screenshots of what was being said on WhatsApp.” Jennifer also noticed that the tool which was supposed to serve as mutual aid and exchange of information was transformed into a place of mockery.
All these groups are created by the students themselves (often the class representative) and in secondary one. The testimonies of these parents do not surprise Lise, an educator for 13 years. “Age matters, problems occur in secondary 1 and 2. This is the effect of the telephone and WhatsApp. They don’t tell each other anything important, we wonder what the point is. They can text each other until the wee hours.”My son receives 600 messages per day, between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., 98 messages are sent!”, confirms Sonia.
The hell of WhatsApp groups
Parental vigilance
According to the educator, calming things down remains quite simple. “A dad alerted us to the harassment that was developing in the WhatsApp group. We directly confronted the students to remind them of the rules and remind parents that they are responsible for what their children do.”explains Lise. “We receive a lot of reports from parents and students also come to us whenever there is a problem.”
Faced with this phenomenon, Lise’s school decided to replace the Latin option with a media education course in secondary one. Sonia gave her son a “WhatsApp course” to explain how to archive a chat and turn off notifications.
Marjorie, too, saw her son’s group quickly become “whatever” until a leader framed the discussion. “It shouldn’t exist without the presence of an adult. Adults have a very big role to play.”concludes the educator.
