Quebec could benefit from more radical measures like those proposed by a new French report concerning children and their screens, says a psychoeducator.
A group of experts recently presented President Emmanuel Macron with a report containing radical measures regarding screen time for adolescents and children, and these measures would be “a step in the right direction” for Marco Mailhot, psychoeducator, trainer and speaker at Cyberquilibre.
“It’s a step in the right direction because there weren’t that many things being done, even in Quebec we are a little hesitant to do it,” he said, on the show The Balance Sheet.
“Often, the parents I meet tell me “they would take measures to help us, to support us, because when we say no, we feel guilty, our children tell us that their friends can, while we cannot. no, we limit them too much, it’s anarchy,” he continued.
In this report, experts advise banning screens for children before the age of 3, using the telephone before the age of 11 and then without connection, avoiding applications like Instagram or Tik Tok before the age of 18 and banning screens from kindergarten classes. , notably.
“The Commission was shocked by the observations it had to make on strategies for capturing children’s attention, where all cognitive biases are used to lock children on their screens, control them, re-engage them, monetize,” the report concluded.
If these recommendations seem unattainable for the moment, Mr. Mailhot still believes that social networks are problematic.
“There are no restrictions, people can open accounts with fake profiles, so everyone is going for that, but all the constraint that it involves, the intimidation that there is online, the Parents are often not even aware that the child is going through this in their room, so the impacts are much greater than the benefits, I am convinced of that,” he assured.
Mr. Mailhot also noted, during his visits to Quebec schools, that many children aged 11 and under already had accounts on social networks.
“It’s only at 14 that judgment begins to be effective enough to say whether or not it’s good to publish a message, expose your body,” he said.
Prioritize time between humans
The report notably recalls that time spent with your child is essential, especially when they are younger.
“Our children are not “little adults”, they need to play, they need adults to forget their cell phones to give them time, they need to talk to adults and find them available at home. , in parks, during their activities, in cities and in the countryside,” we can read.
One of the tools available to parents is parental control, which is sometimes difficult to set up for parents who are not used to it.
“The child, around 5-6 years old, often surpasses his parent at a technological level, if he is at all interested, because he is open-minded, he wants to learn all the time, so the parents are a little little behind, we don’t really like to familiarize ourselves with these screens,” continued the speaker.
