Already 25 years since the year 2000. Duty takes us back in December to a quarter of a century punctuated by significant events and new trends, which still shape our society. In this article: the cell phone, which has come to change the way we interact with each other.
The scene goes like this: a dozen preteens are having a sleepover in the basement of a bungalow. We are in the year 2000. Everyone gathers around the single television – cathode ray screen, please – to watch a film and live a common experience. Now we move forward 25 years. Tweens are still getting together, but instead of watching a TV, they’re staring at their cell phone screens and reacting to videos they send to each other on TikTok. Each on their own.
There is nothing far-fetched about the scene: it is the type of situation observed by childhood specialists. And we can think of a host of problems that come with using a phone. With several benefits, too.
One thing is certain: our interaction model has changed, says Audrey-Ann Deneault, professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Montreal.
In the early 2000s, a teenager could easily spend hours on the phone talking to a friend, she recalls. Twenty-five years later, a teenager can spend just as much time staring at a cell phone screen, but looking at images of people who present a perfect version of themselves. “It ends up having an influence on young people’s self-esteem. »
Mme Deneault is a specialist in technoference, the idea according to which “the cell phone becomes a barrier in many of the interactions we have on a daily basis.” For example, we think of someone who interrupts a conversation during dinner when a notification appears. “It can really interfere with relationships and also signal to the person who is the “victim” of this interruption that it is perhaps less important than what is happening on the phone. »
The use of cell phones is cause for concern: “If we think about parent-child relationships, we know that almost one minute out of three that the parent is with the child is on their cell phone,” says she said. In short, “parent-child relationships become of lower quality”. And unlike other distractions, like television, “the phone follows us everywhere.”
An overview of the scientific literature is not reassuring. Meta-analyses show that increased screen time among children is associated with more behavioral problems, attention deficit, hyperactivity, depression and anxiety. More screen time among young people is also associated with a decline in communication skills. It is also estimated that 75% of children under 2 spend too much time in front of a screen.
“Even on the physical side, there is also a greater risk of injury among young people when their parents are absorbed by their phone,” since they are distracted and monitor their children less, who often have a knack for putting themselves in danger.
Why we love it
“We have an attachment to this object because it is part of our daily life. We create an attachment with technical objects from the moment they fit into a large part of our usual tasks in our routines,” explains Camille Alloing, professor in the Department of Social and Public Communication at the University of Quebec in Montreal. . Today, the telephone is used to wake up, to plan your days, to connect to the Internet, to communicate, to check the time, underlines the expert.
“There was a turning point in terms of ergonomics which was the arrival of the iPhone,” he says. At the same time, we saw the evolution of the “engineering” of the telephone itself around 2008-2009, which then made it possible to do much more than make telephone calls, but also to access the Internet and use a touch interface, all at relatively affordable costs.
It’s not just its simplicity that has encouraged its adoption, according to the communications expert. Cell phones also allow “individualization of access to information”, that is to say that the latter has been organized according to the user’s preferences. Result: “the so-called smart phone continually provides a means of avoiding boredom”. When we had newspapers and magazines, we had the possibility of getting through this, but not anymore; the flow of information is perpetual.
That’s without taking into account the fact that we love the cell phone a little in spite of ourselves. “These are devices that are made to become obsessive,” to capture our attention, but without necessarily having relational goals, says Audrey-Ann Deneault.
“A question of dosage”
We often demonize the cell phone, but it also allows us to see people we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Communicating with grandparents via video call can help break the loneliness, “and that’s something that can be quite positive,” according to Mme Deneault.
So, good or bad, the cell phone? “It’s a value judgment,” argues Camille Alloing. He specifies that the criticisms that can be made are often subjective, and gives an example: some will judge parents who give a phone to their child who is crying in a restaurant, but we do not know the whole story: Is this the only time of the year they do this?
Obviously, leaving your child glued to the screen of a phone “is not the best idea in the world for their development”, but that does not mean that all use is problematic, explains Mr. Alloing. “It’s a question of the mix of practices. »
The relationship with screens can of course be problematic, for example if someone uses their phone to go to online betting sites and ends up ruined, he explains. But so-called “problematic” use is also defined in relation to certain norms shared or not by social groups, says Mr. Alloing.
What the future holds
What to expect for the next 25 years? If before, we spoke “with” our telephone, “more and more, we will speak “to” our telephone”, a phenomenon which should increase with the rise of artificial intelligence, affirms Camille Alloing. Cell phones will be responsible for organizing our daily lives, according to him.
“We are going to have more and more social links that will be built with these artificial intelligences that will be in our phones”, since they could, for example, respond for us and with our voice. This personalization will be “pushed to the extreme,” he says. “I think we’re going to come to times where it’s going to be our phones talking to each other for us. »
Artificial intelligence could, however, help to break the isolation of certain people, because “it’s great to have a phone that can connect to lots of people. But if we don’t have anyone to connect with, [l’appareil deviendra] also something that will break our isolation,” says Mr. Alloing.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence worries Audrey-Ann Deneault. For now, we still see real people on social networks, even if the image we are presented with may be altered. Ultimately, we could have “a social partner” in our pocket who we could talk to more often than real humans, according to her.
“We should at least be aware of the extent to which our phone has become an integral part of our lives and our interactions,” says the expert. Being aware of this would allow you to set limits. Because we won’t stop using it, but we can still control where and when we do it.